Rising From Shadowed Ashes
by GreenCrystal19
Summary: After the Giant War, Nico leaves the camps behind and stumbles upon Hogwarts. Nico's powers have made him the interest of the Ministry and a certain Dark wizard; and the students won't leave him alone. Can Nico face his role as Hades' son, or will he keep slipping away into the shadows? Starts Prisoner of Azkaban; AU: Nico doesn't yet think he's accepted. Solangelo; canon ships.
1. Nico Slips into the Shadows Again

**Rising from** **Shadowed Ashes**

**GreenCrystal19**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Heroes of Olympus; they belong to respective authors; J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan. Cover art by Viktoria Ridzel (Viria/viria13/vika) as usual. Her art is amazing; she is now the official portrait artist.**

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**Author's Notes: An AU in which Nico leaves the demigod camps after Gaea is defeated and attends Hogwarts Schools of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and still doesn't feel accepted. (Read: FEEL accepted. The other demigods WILL NOT be jerks to him.) For those of you who are reading my other story-this one probably won't be as silly/cheesy/funny/awful, however you want to say it.**

**DON'T WORRY-Nico WILL NOT have an absolutely awful ending to his story-and Will WILL BE IN THIS STORY MORE. (No pun intended..."Will will" LOL.)**

**To clarify: Leo IS alive; he just hasn't gotten back with Calypso yet.**

**SET AFTER HEROES OF OLYMPUS, AND DURING PRISONER OF AZKABAN. Harry, Hermione, and Ron are 12-13, and Nico is 13-14. EDIT: He skipped a year in Son of Neptune, going from 12 to 14. Okay? Okay.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Nico Slips into the Shadows...Again**

**Nico's PoV**

Nico wasn't having a good day. Partly because he'd ditched the demigod camps and was regretting it, partly because he was lost in some weird wizard village, and partly because he could we an evil presence: some kind of monster that reminded Nico of Kronos, or Tartarus, or every other evil he'd fought. There were many options to choose from.

Anyways, the presence seemed to be coming from a...a _boy,_ sitting with two other peoplel at what looked like an icecream shop. He looked normal enough, save for a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, but Nico could feel the evil inside him as clearly as he could feel his silver ring under his fingers. It reminded Nico of a deadly cobra—the snake would stay hidden, hard to detect, but one wrong move and it would lunge out and strike in a flash.

Nico did it without thinking. He was probably just tired, not thinking properly. Indeed, it was probably just his demigod instincts kicking in; they'd been a bit over-the-top since Nico had returned from Tartarus. But...perhaps it had been something else, _someone _else, suggesting the idea to him. A rush of air, an odd feeling. Nico didn't put much thought into it, because by that time, his Stygian iron sword as pointed at the strange boy's chest. "Who are you?" Nico hissed.

Suddenly, Nico heard a voice behind him shout. "_STUPIFY!_" Turning, he saw that a bushy-haired girl who had been next to the boy had aimed a bolt of red light at him. Before Nico could react, the light hit him. Darkness overwhelmed Nico's vision and he dropped down, dead asleep.

* * *

As Nico slept, his subconscious started to relive the events that had landed him in a wizarding market, of all places. It had been five in the morning, and Nico had laid on his bed in the Hades cabin, staring at the ceiling. Gaea had been defeated...but at a price: Leo was dead. Nico could feel it in his bones, and even though there had been something different about Leo's death, as though it ran on its own engine, Nico had been sure that Leo was dead.

Octavian was also dead. It wasn't as though Nico could have (_should _have) prevented it (or that he cared; Octavian was better off dead), but he was sure that everyone hated him for it—specifically Will. If it weren't for Octavian, Leo would probably still be alive (and Nico wouldn't look like some kind of remorseless monster). What was Nico to do? He may have helped bring the Athena Parthenos back to Camp Half-Blood, but he'd also survived Tartarus, turned Bryce Lawrence into a _ghost_, had been forced to tell Jason about his crush on Percy, and had also started mysteriously turning into smoke.

Nico, to put it, was on an entirely different plane of existence than the other demigods—he was around eighty years old, for one thing. From the 1920-30s. And Italian. Nico even had a slight accent—when he spoke in Italian or was rambling on to himself, he would get funny looks. Usually, however, Nico could keep his accent American enough to not draw attention. Oh, right: Nico was also a son of Hades—he exuded an aura of death and gloom whenever he was, well, gloomy. Almost forgot that.

He'd also survived Tartarus—_alone. _Only two other demigods had even _been _to Tartarus...and Nico couldn't even bring himself to talk to them. To _him._

These thoughts had been floating around Nico's brain for the better part of an hour, as insubstantial and dark as...well, shadows. Or, more accurately, Nico. Since he'd started fading, Nico often felt like a shadow even when he was solid—a tiny wisp of darkness, drifting around aimlessly. The few good things about being a son of Hades seemed to have turned on Nico; he wondered how long _that _would last.

Of course, things _had_ changed. Reyna had publicly accepted him as a friend—as family—in front of the entire camp. Nico knew things would be different, too. Things could change for him. But something odd, some little whisper in the back of his mind, told him he had to leave. He was, after all, a son of Hades: and since his return to Tartarus, his powers had gotten much stronger, much more unpredictable. Nico didn't know if he was ready to control them, especially around other demigods.

He'd made a decision. He was leaving. Right now.

Nico sat up and looked around, before slipping on his aviator jacket. Fingering his silver skull ring/Stygian iron sword combo (since losing the sword in the bronze jar, Nico had attached it to his ring and enchanted it to return to his hand if he lost it, with Hades' help) Nico stuffed some supplies into his black backpack: unicorn draught, a good amount of drachmas and food and water, some clothes: all black, with some skull designs here and there.

Walking outside, Nico took one last look at Camp Half-Blood: the eastern horizon was a pale shade of gray-gold, the Hades cabin looming behind him with its black walls and green torches. The Big House sat tall, with its pale blue paint and white trim. Nico saw the dining pavilion where he had learned of Bianca's death, the woods he'd run to, where he'd entered the Labyrinth...and the Apollo cabin, gleaming gold in the low light of the central hearth that Hestia tended.

Nico shook his head. He couldn't dwell in the past, like the spirits of the Underworld. Nico was done with Camp Half-Blood _and _Camp Jupiter—for now. Someday, he'd come back: when he knew he'd be accepted, content with who he was. The quest had helped—but Nico felt that he had a long way to go.

But for now...Nico was leaving. Closing his eyes, Nico had stepped forwards and melted into the darkness.

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**Author's Notes: Yeah...compared to the way I'm telling the other story, Eclipsed Ancestry, that was _different_. I liked it though-so far. Please post any feedback or suggestions you have in the review section! Thank you! I'll add chapter 2 soon, hopefully.**

**Edit: Don't read Eclipsed. I don't really like it anymore, LOL. Feel free to check out my YouTube channel, GreenCrystal19, where I do...art stuff.**


	2. Nico's Free-Time is Stolen

**Rising from Shadowed Ashes **

**GreenCrystal19**

****Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Heroes of Olympus; they belong to respective authors; J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan. Cover art by Viktoria Ridzel (Viria/viria13/vika) as usual. Her art is amazing; she is now the official portrait artist.****

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**Author's Notes: Sorry if I had Nico overreact a little. He was tired, and as I said, he thought Harry was evil. EDIT: I decided to have aAa more concrete reason; some magic was influencing him a bit. Edited chapter one quite a bit. So. **

**For anyone wondering why Nico cares about Octavian, in Blood of Olympus he initially felt guilty because he thought Will Solace (and others) would think he was a horrible person; he didn't feel particularly guilty about Octavian's death itself.**

**Also: The demigods do not HATE Nico; he has just convinced himself that they have. In the actual books, he overcame this opinion at the end of Heroes of Olympus, but in this, he has yet to realize that he could have friends if he tried. Sorry if he is being WAY too stubborn. Even when he does realize that the other demigods don't hate him, he won't be able to leave just yet because...well, you'll see why.**

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**Chapter 2: Nico's Free-Time is Stolen**

**Nico's PoV**

When Nico woke, it was to see a long, narrow stick hovering over his face. His immediate reaction: _Did I shadow-travel into a tree again? _Then the memory of what had happened caught up to him. Nico hastily jumped to his feet, almost tripping as he did, and twisted his ring. The Stygian iron sword stabbed the air, ready to slice whatever threatened Nico into shadowy oblivion. "Back off," Nico snarled.

His captor flicked his wand, and Nico's sword flew out of his hand and clattered against the wall opposite Nico. "I wouldn't try anything," the man standing before Nico said. He was old, with long, silvery hair and a matching beard. Half-moon glasses sat on his crooked nose; his eyes were blue (like Will's—_DON'T THINK ABOUT WILL—)_ and sparkled with a lively light.

Nico caught his breath, almost choking. _He-he disarmed me! Just like that! _Nico's shock turned to anger. _No one messes with the son of Hades. Or else._ The shadows around Nico darkened, and the air in the room became colder; Nico could see his breath smoking. Nico took in his surroundings: he'd jumped off of a white bed; and he stood in what looked like a hotel room: an oak dresser sat under a mirror; and an oak cabinet stood in the corner; the walls were painted white, and a unlit fireplace sat in one corner. The bearded man stood between Nico and the door.

Nico glared at the man. "Give me back my sword," Nico said, his voice shaking with an odd combination of rage and fear.

The man shook his head "I'm afraid I can't do that," he said. "You see, people who attack the Boy Who Lived need to be investigated."

Nico's eyes darkened. "I warned you." The shadows in the room condensed even more, and sharpened into jagged spears. They then flew at the man, molding into ropes in midair. However, the wizard (he must have been a wizard) waved his stick—or wand, Nico remembered—and made the shadows disappear. Nico snapped his fingers, intending to summon some skeleton warriors, but all that appeared was an old chicken bone.

Nico suddenly felt exhausted; after surviving Tartarus, being kept in a bronze jar, and bringing the Athena Parthenos halfway across the world, even a small amount of Underworld or shadow magic drained him. Nico was in no shape to fight off an average monster, let alone a skilled wizard.

Nico sighed. He might as well play along. "What do you want?"

The man smiled. "A few things, actually. My apologies for not introducing myself; my name is Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. Could you please tell me yours?"

Nico gave "Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore" a wary look. "Names have power," he responded. "Why should I tell you mine?"

Dumbledore smiled. "That is true, in some cases," he said. "But I will need to call you something."

Nico gritted his teeth. _Why should I listen to this guy? _he thought angrily. _No one gets to order me around. _"Call me nothing," Nico growled. "Please, just leave me alone. I don't care about this 'Boy Who Lived.'"

Dumbledore's expression became serious. "Young man, you have attacked a very important wizard—and whether this was..._intentional_ or not, you used an unusual sword: a Dark artifact. You then performed umbrakinesis and necromancy, both of which are against Wizarding law. We need answers, and the Minister himself is traveling here to see you. If you want to avoid any more trouble, you'll answer our questions—startimg with your name, please." Dumbledore said all this calmly yet firmly, in a tone that would not be disobeyed.

Nico decided he'd better get all of this over with. "My _name_ is Nico di Angelo, and I _really _need to go do something, so please just give me my sword and go away."

Dumbledore smiled and offered his hand, like Nico was a friend having coffee at Starbucks, not a son of Hades who'd just accidentally tried to kill some wizard guy. "Pleased to meet you, Mr. di Angelo. Could you tell me how you arrived in Diagon Alley?"

Nico ignored the offered handshake, and his expression became guarded. _How much should I say? _he thought. Dumbledore's gaze made him uncomfortable; Nico felt like he was being X-rayed. His fears were confirmed. "Nico," Dumbledore said. "You must be honest. We have ways to get answers by force."

Nico eyed the wizard warily. "How, exactly?" he asked.

Dumbledore held up a small village of clear liquid. "Veritaserum," he said. "Just three drops can make someone reveal their deepest secrets."

Nico's heart flipped. _Their deepest secrets_. Nico was _not _going to be forced to tell someone that again. "Alright. I got to Diagon Alley by accident. Using my powers."

Dumbledore knit his eyebrows, looking concerned. "Ah. I see. I notice that you use a sword...are you not a wizard?"

Nico narrowed his eyes. _Wizards do not know of demigods for a reason, _he thought. _They're even more dangerous than the Romans could've been. _Nico decided to tell part of the truth: "I have magical abilities, but they're..._different_ from yours. I don't need a wand, for starters."

Dumbledore nodded then checked a strange watch that had the planets and other things rather than numbers. "I see. The Minister should be arriving just about-"

"ALBUS!" A portly man wearing a lime green bowler hat strode into the room. He saw Nico, before turning his gaze back on Dumbledore. "Is _this _the boy who attacked Harry?"

Dumbledore nodded. "He is capable of umbrakinesis and necromancy, Cornelius. Nico, this is the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. Cornelius, this is Nico di Angelo."

Fudge's face reddened. "_Umbrakinesis? Necromancy? _This is the one who attacked Harry?! He should be put on trial and taken to Azkaban immediately!"

Nico stiffened. "_No one _takes me prisoner," he said, dark eyes flaming, the hint of a threat in his voice. _I can't be trapped again. It would be like the time with the giants, and Tartarus. I can't._

Fudge narrowed his eyes, though he looked nervous. "Albus?"

Dumbledore looked thoughtful. Turning to Nico, he said: "I will offer you a choice. Either attend my school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, or go on trial, and quite likely get sentenced to Azkaban."

Nico seethed internally. Why should he go to some magic school, when he'd already learned all the skills he needed? Dumbledore nodded, as though reading Nico's thoughts. "Nico...if you run, the Ministry can and will track you down. We can easily restrict your powers, and you will be sentenced to Azkaban, I'm afraid."

Nico sighed. "I'll attend the school. But don't expect me to wear a hat and wave a wand just to make you happy!"

Fudge glared at Nico. "You expect me to allow you to bring _Dark wizards _near Harry? In a _school?_"

"Says the one stationing the Azkaban guards at Hogwarts," Dumbledore replied calmly, before looking at Nico intently. "If you attend my school, you must do your best to follow the rules and behave in class. And you _may not _harm Harry Potter. Do you understand?"

Nico nodded. "I understand," he said. But he didn't promise. Not on the River Styx. "Now, can I _please _have my sword back?"

* * *

The next day, Nico was given a bag full of some money, books, and other supplies. The bag had been on his bedside table when he'd woken up; Nico had rifled through it and had even found some of it interesting.

Afterwards, Nico headed downstairs, fingering his silver skull ring, which the wizards had (reluctantly) given him back. School. Nico didn't think that was a good idea. Besides, he liked his free-time. He did _not _like having his free-time stolen. Against his will. When would he send Iris-messenges, or even visit camp? Or get take-out from the McDonald's drive-thru? School definitely wasn't meant for the son of Hades.

As Nico descended the staircase and walked into the main room of the Leaky Cauldron (which was apparently the place where be was staying, a wizarding bar/hotel combo) he almost choked. There he was: Harry Evil Potter. Nico barely managed to keep his powers in control; he could feel himself itching to release all the shadows and make them tie Harry up and toss him into a convenient storage area. Nico winced at the thought; he sounded like the gods or the giants, tossing monsters (and sometimes sons of Hades) into Tartarus and forgetting about them. If Nico ever became a god, the first thing he'd do would be to make some serious improvements to Tartarus' living conditions. Maybe monsters wouldn't feel so murderous then.

Harry looked up and saw Nico; a myriad of expressions flickered across his face: extreme fear, then extreme anger, then pity, then curiosity, before he settled on a look of polite (ish) wariness.

Nico glared right back at him, sending out the message _I may not be trying to kill you now, but I certainly don't like you, famous Potter. _Harry's expression changed to that of annoyed disgust. Nico's gave swept over his friends: the redhead, Ron Weasley, if be remembered correctly, and Hermione Granger, the bushy-haired girl.

Nico sat in a shadowy corner, as far away from the trio as possible. But the moment he sat, Nico could feel himself dissolving; he reluctantly moved closer to the trio, into a lighter area. Turning into smoke was not on Nico's agenda for the day. Learning more about wizards was, and so was _breakfast. _Nico was actually hungry, for once. A waiter came over; Nico ordered an appetizer of "buttered toast, with biscuits," whatever that was. He ordered water on the side.

While he waited for the food, Nico watched the trio, who sat near the center of the room. He knew they were talking about him; they were painstakingly obvious, shooting glances at him. Finally, one of them—the girl, Hermione—stood and walked over to Nico's table. "Would you like to sit with us?"

Nico shook his head. "No, thank-you."

Hermione blinked. "Are you sure?"

Nico sighed. He knew they wouldn't leave him alone; besides, he didn't want them talking about him. "Alright." F

He followed Hermione back to their table, wondering why he'd decided to sit with them. _At least I may be able to learn something about Harry, _Nico thought to himself. As he walked closer, the evil inside Harry seemed to grow stronger, as though the snake had realized that some food had come close enough for it to strike at. Nico plunked himself down in a chair at the far end of the table and proceeded to stare at his hands, fidgeting with his ring but not activating it.

No one spoke.

After a few minutes, Nico's food arrived. Hesitantly, Nico took a bite of toast. Still, no one said anything. Nico had finished off half of his biscuits before Hermione awkwardly said, "We, um, didn't get your name...?"

"Nico di Angelo." Nico took a sip of water and pushed his plate away; two biscuits and a bite of toast was all he could handle for now. Maybe he'd eat more when Harry wasn't practically breathing down his neck.

Nico stared at his ring since more. No one said anything else. Nico sighed and then said, "I suppose you're all waiting for me to apologize about the ice cream incident."

No one spoke.

"Alright. I apologize for the ice cream incident."

Harry and Ron glared at him; Hermione looked concerned. Nico had gone back to his food and was down to his last biscuit when Hermione said, "Do you...er...want to talk about anything?"

Nico shrugged.

"Have you heard of Hogwarts before?"

"No." Why were these wizards so _inquisitive? _

Silence again. This was getting awkward.

After single-handedly bringing the biscuit population to extinction, Nico got up. "Well...bye, then. I need to go do some...um...stuff."

"Er...bye," Hermione said. The other two just started at him. His day kept getting better and better.

The trio watched as Nico proceeded back upstairs, twisting his ring around. Nico already hated it here; but he couldn't leave. Not until he'd attended that school and proved his innocence. Which would be hard, seeing as Nico hadn't really been _innocent _since he was ten.

The wizards hadn't told him much; just that Harry was known as the "Big Who Lived" and was famous; as well as the names of his two friends. Reaching his room, Nico flopped on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Suddenly, a voice from the corner said, "Nico!"

Nico sat straight up and looked over. "_Will?!_"

Will scowled. "I _told _you not to do any more underworld magic! I can _sense _that you've been shadow-traveling!"

"I, um..."

Will sighed. "Where are you?"

"London."

"_WHAT?!_"

"Diagon Alley. Wizards go shopping for school supplies here before they attend Hogwarts, a school in Scotland."

"_Wizards? _Nico, why do you always get yourself into the weirdest situations?"

Nico glared at Will. "Why do you care? Why do _any _of you care? No one at Camp Half-Blood ever liked me!"

Will blinked, looking like he'd been slapped. "That's not true!"

"Yeah, right. _Maybe _they would have...if things had turned out differently. But they didn't turn out differently. I won't fit in. I wouldn't be happy."

Will rolled his eyes. "I've told you already: that's not true, Deathboy."

"Don't call me _Deathboy!_"

"Whatever. The moment you can make another jump across the Atlantic—which, _doctor's orders_, is in AT LEAST two weeks—come back to camp and get your head on straight! When was _anyone _hated you?"

Nico glared at Will. "I can name at least ten times."

"Do it."

Nico was silent.

"See?"

"I hate _you."_

"Whatever."

"Also..." Nico began. "I...can't come back."

"What do you mean, _can't come back_?" Will asked.

"I...have to attend a wizarding school...for a year."

Will was silent. Then, "NICO! Chiron is going to _kill _me!"

Nico raised an eyebrow. _So you DIDN'T just call me for fun. _"What does this have to do with him?"

Will blinked. "Chiron was concerned, so I volunteered to check on you with an IM!"

"Chiron was concerned."

"_Yes!_"

"Because I could be a dangerous demigod up to no good, who may get into trouble."

"Well...partly."

"I swear by the _gods—_" Nico lost his temper and broke the connection, slicing his hand though the mist. "Stupid Apollo kid," he muttered. "Won't leave me alone."

Downstairs, Harry wouldn't leave Nico alone, either.

* * *

**Harry's PoV**

"There is something_ seriously _weird about him!" Harry said, pacing back and forth.

"I think it's just—" Hermione started.

"He tried to _kill_ me!"

"I agree with Harry!" Ron said. "I mean, he's obviously a Dark wizard of some sort, and Dark wizards almost always are in league with..." He trailed off.

Hermione blinked. "I suppose...he did seem like he's hiding something. But...he doesn't seem like someone who'd work with You-Know-Who."

Harry stopped pacing. "I'm going to find out what he's up to," he said. _The little sneak is probably planning to kill me right now! He's probably upstairs plotting murderous plans and eating McDonald's chicken nuggets!  
_

"I don't think that's a good idea," Hermione said.

"It's a great idea, mate!" Ron said cheerfully. "Use your cloak!"

He seemed to just relish the idea of some extra excitement.

Harry nodded. "Alright."

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

Nico was flopped on his bed again, thinking about his conversation with Will. _WHY did I snap at him?! _Nico thought. _Now he'll NEVER like me. Why do I CARE whether he likes me?! He's so annoying! I hate my life! _Nico glared the ceiling some more. The ceiling did not respond.

"Nico?"

Nico leapt to his feet again. "_Hazel?!_"

Nico blinked twice to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. But sure enough, a misty image of Nico's half-sister stood in the same spot Will's Iris-message had. Hazel sighed. "Good. You're okay. Will told me about what happened."

Nico sighed. "I swear if he tells anyone else I'll-"

Hazel sighed. "Nico, it's fine. You shouldn't be using your dark, shadowy death powers anyways. Besides, I...I may be able to help."

Nico looked up from the floor, feeling like a eager ten-year-old again. "Really? How, Hazel?"

"First of all: gather information. What do you know so far?"

Nico snorted. "First thing: Harry needs to go. Second thing: Dumbledore is way too nosy. Third thing: Hogwarts sounds like the stupidest school I've ever heard of."

Hazel blinked. "Harry? Dumbledore? Will told me about Hogwarts and Diagon Alley, but he didn't mention those names."

Nico waved his hand dismissively. "Couple of wizards I met." Nico lowered his voice. "Although with Harry, I can sense something evil. Something dangerous."

Hazel's eyes widened. "You don't think he'll try to...?"

Nico nodded. "I do, actually," he said. "There will be death; I know that."

Hazel looked horrified. "Nico—whatever you do—"

Nico smiled, although the smile didn't reach his eyes. "Hazel...I'll be fine. I just need to do what needs to be done, and leave."

Hazel nodded. "Nico..." her voice became soft. "You'll always have a place at the demigod camps. Will was right."

Nico smiled sadly. "I wish." Then: "Bye." He swiped his hand through the mist. _Why can't Hazel and Will see the truth? I'll _never _be_ happy_ there._

* * *

**Harry's PoV**

Harry slipped under his invisibility cloak and crept towards Nico's room before pressing his ear to the door.

"—told me about what happened," an unfamiliar female voice said.

Harry heard Nico sigh. "I swear if he tells any one I'll—"

The girl responded. "Nico, it's fine. You shouldn't be using your dark, shadowy death powers anyways. Besides, I...I may be able to help."

"Really? How, Hazel?" Nico sounded eager. _Too _eager in Harry's opinion. _The new person is probably telling him all my weaknesses, _Harry thought.

"First of all: gather information. What do you know so far?" the girl said. Yup. Harry was right.

Nico snorted. "First thing: Harry needs to go. Second thing: Dumbledore is way too nosey. Third thing: Hogwarts sounds like the stupidest school I've ever heard of."

_Harry needs to go. _Harry was right. Nico seemed to want to get rid of Harry. Naturally, Harry decided to keep listening. The girl—Hazel-responded. "Harry? Dumbledore? Will told me about Hogwarts and Diagon Alley, but he didn't mention those names."

Nico sounded dismissive, which was odd... "Couple of wizards I met." Nico and Hazel's voices got quieter for a moment; no matter how hard Harry listened, he couldn't decipher what they were saying.

"-I do, actually," Nico said his voice loud enough to hear now. "There will be death; I know that."

Hazel sounded worried. "Nico—whatever you do—"

Nico cut her off. "Hazel...I'll be fine. I just need to do what needs to be done, and leave."

"Nico..." Hazel's voice became soft again.

Nico sounded a bit sad, even bitter, when he responded. "I wish." A pause, then: "Bye."

Harry heard footsteps heading towards the door; he quickly scrambled away and ran back downstairs. He had to tell Hermione and Ron what had happened!

"Ron! Hermione!"

They jumped to their feet and ran over. "What did you hear, mate?" Ron asked.

"Nico _migghttt_ be planning to kill me," Harry said in a low voice.

"_What?_" Hermione said.

"I heard him say 'Harry needs to go' and 'there will be death,'" Harry continued. "He was talking to a girl named Hazel, and she mentioned someone named Will. But that means Nico was talking to _two _people...surely he must be a spy, or someone working for Voldemort, or _something _dangerous," Harry said.

"Harry, you need to tell Dumbledore!" Hermione said.

"No!" Ron said. "You need to find Nico right now and punch his lights out! Or hex him! Maybe that leg-locking curse-"

"Excuse me?"

Harry didn't want to. He really didn't want to. But be turned around. Nico stood right behind him, arms crossed, looking rather furious.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

Nico was annoyed at both Will and Hazel. So he got up and headed back downstairs. Maybe he could burn off some of his energy by taking a walk around Diagon Alley. Or maybe he could "gather information." As he headed downstairs, he heard Ron, Hermione, and Harry talking.

"Harry, you need to tell Dumbledore!" Hermione was saying.

"No!" Ron said. "You need to find Nico right now and punch his lights out! Or hex him! Maybe that leg-locking curse-"

"Excuse me?" Nico asked. He crossed his arms, wondering whether he should unsheath his sword. Harry turned around. Nico raised an eyebrow.

"I don't appreciate being punched, hexed, or cursed, thank you very much," he said coldly.

Remembering the other part of their conversation, Nico added: "And what do you need to tell Dumbledore?"

Harry glared at Nico, whipping his wand out. "If that was any of your business, Nico-"

Nico had a sudden suspicion. The air around him grew chilly; Nico could tell from the trio's expressions that he must have looked pretty scary. "Have you been..._eavesdropping?_"

Nico could tell from their silence that had. Harry's evil aura got stronger. Nico himself could barely keep _his _aura in check; he could already see little tendrils of darkness spreading alone the floor. Nico gave Harry, Ron, and Hermione his best death glare. In a low voice, he said: "I'll let you off the hook this time. But please, don't _ever _listen to my conversations again. And don't you _dare _tell Dumbledore anything about me—the sooner I leave this place, the better."

With that, Nico turned and stalked outside. They had _listened to his conversation_. With Hazel and possibly Will. From what Harry had said, they'd probably heard Nico saying that there would be death. However, it was true; Nico could sense a high probability of death around this wizarding world. Nico did _not _need any more death in his life, thank you very much. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt (or the zombie chauffeur, anyways).

Not really thinking, Nico tapped one of the bricks on the wall in front of him-the one that opened Diagon Alley-and began walking down the street. There were quite a few wizards and witches milling about, but not as many as when Nico had first seen the alley. Absentmindedly, Nico let his feet lead him wherever they wanted; thinking about what had just happened. _What do they know? Do they know about...about THAT secret? No. I didn't say anything about it. But do they know about the camps? What if they DO tell Dumbledore? DO THEY KNOW I'M A DEMIGOD? What if-_Nico was broken out of his thoughts by a voice saying, "There you are, Nico di Angelo. I've been expecting you."

He was in Ollivander's wand shop. _Why did I go in here? Am I...could I be a wizard?_

* * *

**Author's Notes: _Well folks, that ends of what I am sure is my LONGEST EVER CHAPTER-around 4000 words!-_I hope you enjoyed! I'll update soon with wands, and after that, dementors and Boggarts! Yay!**

**If you have any feedback or suggestions, please review.**

**Edit: Somebody said Nico was calmer in canon. I agree. I made him less crazy with the sword and stuff. And Ron ain't that stupid, LOL. I made him sound like he actually knew how stuff works, LOL.**


	3. Nico is Offered a Very Nice Stick

**Rising from Shadowed Ashes **

**GreenCrystal19**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Heroes of Olympus; they belong to respective authors; J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan. Cover art by Viktoria Ridzel (Viria/viria13/vika) as usual. Her art is amazing; she is now the official portrait artist.**

* * *

**Author's Notes: This will get interesting now. Yay!**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Nico is Offered a Very Nice Stick  
**

**Nico's PoV  
**

"You've...been_ expecting _me?" Nico asked.

"Yes," the man said. His eyes shone silver like Artemis', goddess of the moon and the hunt. Nico was not fond of Artemis, to say the least. "My name is Mr. Garrick Ollivander," he said, nodding at a gold plaque on his desk. "I assume you came for your wand?"

"Um..." Nico said, confused. "Sure?"

Ollivander pulled out a silver tape measure. "Right or left handed?"

"Left," Nico said. He could use both hands quite well, but he felt more comfortable with his left hand.*****

Ollivander measured his left arm, from hand to shoulder, wrist to shoulder, elbow to shoulder, and so on. Then, he measured in several other odd places: Nico's full height (normal), Nico's hand length (a bit odd), Nico's foot length (is this a wand store or a shoe store?!), and between his eyes (_EXTREMELY_ weird).

After a while, Nico noticed that the tape measure had been measuring by itself; Ollivander had been pulling out boxes and reading the labels, muttering to himself. Nico paused and stared, until the tape measure nudged him again, like _COME ON, YOU! I AIN'T GOT ALL DAY! _Ollivander continued to pull out boxes. When the tape measure had finally finished its work, Ollivander walked up to Nico and deposited a pile of four or six boxes. "Try these wands first," he advised. "Remember: the wand chooses the wizard. It may take some time."

_In my case, it will probably take _forever_ to find a wand, _Nico thought. _I'm no wizard. _Then he remembered how he'd walked into Ollivander's store without even meaning to. _Or maybe I am._

Nico tried the first wand: ebony with dragon heartstring. He almost broke Ollivander's desk. "Definitely not!" Ollivander cried, before whipping out anyway their box. "Try this. Ash and unicorn hair."

Nico tried that wand as well, and many others. After a while, Ollivander pulled out another box. "Yew and Phoenix feather."Nico tried it, and set one of Ollivander's shelves on fire. Fortunately, the shelf was empty. "I was _positive _that was the one!" Ollivander exclaimed. "Hmm...how about this?" He offered. Nico another wand.

Nico, personally, was getting tired of this. _It's clear I'm not a wizard; Ollivander should give up already. I don't want to be here all day! _Nico took the wand, "black popular and a single thestral tail hair" and waved it half-heartedly; to Nico's surprise, black and silver smoke flew out of the tip of the wand and formed the silhouette of a dark helmet—Hade's Helm of Darkness—before turning transparent and drifting off.

Ollivander's eyebrows shot to the top of his head. "I did not expect that to work," he said. "That wand was not one of my preferred design; a strange wizard comissioned me to make it, paying a fortune. Thestral hair cores are problematic; the wand only works for wizards and witches who can face death."

Nico gave Ollivander a cold smile. "If that is so," he said, "this wand is perfect for me." Losing his smile, Nico said: "I didn't bring any money...do you want me to come back later and pay for it?"

Ollivander shook his head, his face pale. "No," he said. "Professor Dumbledore paid for it. And to be honest...I'm glad to have that wand out of my shop."

Nico's confidence wavered. He held a wand that Ollivander feared-the man who'd apparently dedicated his life to making wands. Once again, Nico was the unlucky one. Once again, he was becoming the one people feared. His face grim and serious yet again, Nico nodded to Ollivander. "Thank-you...for the wand."

"My pleasure," Ollivander said, sounding like he meant it. "Good day."

Nico knew when be wasn't wanted. Besides, Ollivander gave him the creeps. For once, Nico was glad to be outside in the sunlight again.

* * *

He'd been in the wand shop for two hours—Diagon Alley was full of wizards and witches, and Nico was hungry. He headed back to his room in the Leaky Cauldron (_walking, _not shadow-traveling, like Will had insisted) and grabbed his bag of money and school things. It was a black bag, like one you might take to the park or on a hike, and had a strap so you could sling it over one shoulder and still reach what was inside easily. Perfect for lugging books around Hogwarts (which was apparently quite large) or walking around Diagon Alley. Nico took out one of his books—_The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 3, _by Miranda Goshawk, as well as his wand, and headed back to Diagon Alley.

Even though Nico had never heard of wizards, he was put in year three, as he was thirteen and would turn fourteen on January 28th. Nico would've appreciated that; he didn't need to be in the 11-12 year old class, except for the fact that _Harry Potter was also in year three_. Which was a pretty big oversight—it was obvious Nico might be here to kill Harry, so why risk having to put Nico in the same _dormitory_? Nico didn't know. Luckily for Harry, Nico wasn't particularly interested in killing Harry—despite his overwhelmingly evil aura, Harry hadn't exactly done anything to Nico, save eavesdropping. _Yet, _Nico reminded himself, as he passed under the archway.

As though Nico's thoughts had summoned him, Nico could begin to sense Harry approaching; the slight tingling feeling along Nico's spine turned to a feeling of being hunted by some dangerous monster—a drakon, perhaps. Harry himself walked out of a shop named _Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop_, accompanied by his two nosy friends. Ron glared at Nico; Hermione looked worried, but whether she was worried about Nico or about her friends, Nico didn't know. Probably her friends.

Nico ignored them and continued walking, his book tucked under his arm and his wand in his free hand. He noticed a sign that read _KNOCKTURN ALLEY_; the sign pointed to another street, not quite as wide as Diagon Alley, that was full of dark-looking shops. The whole place was full of shadows; Nico was sure he could find a quiet spot where no one would bother him over there—Nico wanted to see what else his wand could do.

Hades had obviously had it made for Nico; the smoke and Ollivander's comments were evidence of that. But Nico wondered if he could actually _use _the wand, and if so, what he could do with it. The moment Nico set foot in Knockturn Alley, his death powers started acting up. "Ow," Nico murmured, pressing his hands to his head. There were Dark artifacts _everywhere _here...and were those _human bones _Nico could sense? He shivered. Death? That was normal. Human bones? Also normal. Human bones _on sale, _in a _shop? _Definitely _not _normal. Hades would've been annoyed.

Looking up, Nico surveyed his surroundings—there was a shop called _Borgin and Burkes, _another shop called _The Coffin House, _and many other dark, shadowy buildings. Skirting the edge of the alley, Nico stayed near the shadows, and since he was a son of Hades this rendered him nearly invisible—it didn't work as well as actively wrapping the shadows around him, but it worked well enough and was less obvious (and took less effort). Nico walked down the alley until he found the perfect spot—a small gap between two shops. A locked door was set against the wall; but Nico summoned a thin sliver of bone, like a needle—_what in Hades do the wizards use _that _for? _Nico thought to himself as he saw it—and used the pale needle to pick the lock. Opening the door, Nico walked inside and found a room that was around the size of the Hades cabin, a little smaller.

Boxes of wares were shoved against the sides of the room, and shelves full of what Nico figured were potion ingredients lined the walls. Closing the door behind him, Nico picked up an old lantern and lit it, with an equally old match. Nico sat down on one of the boxes and began to page through his spellbook.

On the first few pages of his book, which must have been blank, was a list of the spells from first and second year, in long, spindly handwriting. Nico decided to start with the basics and read through them.

_Body-Binding Curse—Petrificus_ Totalus. _This spells allows the caster to temporarily paralyze the victim. Hard to use on an experienced oppenent, and relatively easy to reverse._

Nico didn't have anyone to try that on, but he thought it sounded quite useful.

_Common Counterspell—_Finite Incantaten, Finite. _Can also be cast nonverbally. This spell can both counter a spell as it is being cast, or cancel/reverse the effects if an ongoing spell. The strength of this spell depends on the skill of the caster; if the spell they are trying to counter was cast by a stronger wizards they can expect little effect.  
_

Nice to know. Nico had a feeling that he'd be using that spell a lot.

_Leg-Locking Curse—Locomotor_ Mortis. _This spell binds the legs of the victim together; so they cannot move each leg independently. _

_That was the one Ron told Harry to use on me, _Nico remembered. _Good thing I know the counterspell now._

_Levitation Charm—_Wingardium Leviosa. _Causes an item to levitate. _

_Lumos Charm—_Lumos. _Creates a bright light at the end of the castor's wand; to extinguish the light, say _Nox.

Nico decided that would be a good first spell to try. Picking up his wand, Nico said, "_Lumos_." Nothing happened. Nico glared at the wand, and putting his willpower into his voice, repeated: "_LUMOS._" Sure enough, a light burst into existence on the tip of his wand. Nico smiled. _A son of Hades, the god of shadows, summoning light. _The idea was so ridiculous that Nico laughed out loud, a genuine laugh that he hadn't been able to experience for a long time. And yet here he was, sitting with a light on his wand, in the middle of a world of wizards. Nico smiled—he couldn't wait to see Hazel's face when she found out.

Except Nico wouldn't be seeing Hazel for a long time. And he would never be able to share this with Bianca. Nico's smile disappeared; he said "_Nox,_" and the light extinguished in a flash, as though it was happy to leave. Nico pocketed his wand and grabbed his bag before heading back outside, making sure to lock the door again behind him with his pick.

Opening his book, Nico continued reading as he walked through Diagon Alley; it kept his thoughts away from Hazel and Bianca.

_Scouring Charm—_Scourgify. _Vigorously cleans the target object, which can be a living creature, although this is considered somewhat cruel._

_Siphoning_ _Spell_—Tergeo. _Cleans liquid, dust, or other debris from a target, but gently than the Scouring Charm. Often used to clean wounds._

_Unlocking Charm—_Alohomora. _Will unlock locks; however, most magical locks are enchanted to be impervious, and thus, this charm will not work._

Nico was so absorbed reading the list of spells—he'd already reached year two's—that he didn't even notice Harry until he walked into him, which was odd. Nico could usually sense Harry whenever he was nearby, but apparently he'd managed to sneak up on him. _Wait a minute, _Nico thought. _If Harry heard my conversation with Hazel, he must have been nearby as well. Which means...Harry has a way of hiding himself. _Before Nico could puzzle that out, Harry said: "What in the name of Merlin were you doing in _Knockturn Alley?_"

Ron and Hermione stood next to him. _One person sneaking up on me is acceptable, but _three_? What is going on here?! _Nico thought. "Nothing," Nico snapped. Which was true. All he'd done was read and cast a simple spell.

Harry's emerald green eyes narrowed. "You walked into a closet, and you didn't come out for a while. Also, something white appeared out of the ground, and you used it to pick the lock."

"_And _the needle looked like bone," Hermione added helpfully.

"Yeah," Ron said. "Where'd you get it?"

Nico was extremely shocked. Dumbledore hadn't told them about Nico's powers? Sure, he hadn't shadow traveled or anything. He hadn't even summoned Jules-Albert, or anything else. But even so, Nico thought that it was odd—Dumbledore not even warning Harry.

Nico rolled his eyes, deciding to act condescending. "Bone? That wasn't _bone_. That was _metal. _Although it would take a few brain cells to know the difference."

Hermione frowned. "Nico...I got top marks in school, my entire life. I'm probably smarter than you."

Nico cast about desperately for an answer. He didn't find one. _Gods of Olympus, I'm schist now._

"How about we have lunch?" Ron said. "I'm hungry. And Hermione can interrogate you more."

"I'm _not _interrogating him!" Hermione protested.

At the same time, Harry exclaimed: "Spend more time with _him? _Isn't he the one who supposedly wants to kill me?"

Nico gave him a withering look. "Yeah, because I wanted to go to Hogwarts _soooo _badly."

Harry shut up. Nico turned to walk away. Hermione stopped him. "Nico, I just want to figure out how to help you get back where you belong!"

Nico looked back at her. "I don't _belong _anywhere. I never have, and I never will."

Nico turned away so they couldn't see how sad this made him. _Ever since Bianca died, I've never been truly happy. Except maybe with Hazel. _Sure, Nico had _felt _happy—but that didn't last long. He'd never _been _happy—not since Bianca died, when he'd been a small ten-year-old, obsessed with Mythomagic and pirates. Nico fingered the Hades figurine—the price for Bianca's death, which he kept in his pocket. _If only she hadn't chosen to be reborn. I could have brought both her _and _Hazel back. _

"Maybe we can change that," Hermione said, breaking Nico out of his thoughts.

Ron snorted. "Why do you want to help him?"

Hermione replied in a quiet voice, thinking that Nico couldn't here her. She was wrong, of course. "If we help him, he can leave sooner."

"I heard that," Nico said.

Harry sighed. "Come on. We'll go to Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlor."

Nico raised an eyebrow. "The _ice cream incident _place?"

Harry nodded, before shooting Nico an annoyed look. "Yes. The place where you tried to kill me."

* * *

**Harry's PoV**

If you ignored the fact that Nico was there, Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor was a pretty nice place.

For one thing: Harry got them free ice cream.

"I see celebrity status can be useful in the wizarding world as well," Nico said. Harry scowled. "Celebrity status" came with a price—his parents were dead. Why would anyone want to be famous for _that?_

Ron snorted. "Not that you'd know. Also, are you not from the wizarding world?" He said all of this with ice cream in his mouth.

Nico set aside his lemon sorbet. "Not exactly."

"Nico, where _are _you from?" Hermione asked. How could she be so _civil _to him? He'd tried to _kill _Harry, for goodness' sake!

"New York," Nico said shortly.

Harry blinked, about to ask how in the name of _Merlin _that could be. But Ron got to it first. He gulped down his mouthful of chocolate ice cream and gasped, "_WHAT?_"

"I'm from New York."

"But...how did you get here?" Hermione asked.

"None of your business."

Hermione sighed. "If you don't want to talk right now, that's fine. But we need answers."

_No, Hermione! We need answers NOW! _Harry thought.

"I've been through a lot. I've learned not to trust people," Nico said. _Ha, _Harry thought. _You've probably learned that from your mentor, "Lord" Voldemort. He doesn't trust anyone.  
_

"Harry's been through more, probably," Ron said around his ice cream. "You-Know-Who and all that."

Harry nodded at Ron, thanking his friend for his support. Then, he turned to Nico, waiting for him to respond.

Nico responded by raising an eyebrow at Ron and saying: "I doubt it. _Harry _has friends. He has people who actually _care _about him."

Harry fought down a wave of anger. "My parents are dead. _Voldemort_ killed them." Harry glared at Nico. _And YOU probably are waiting to kill me, on Voldemort's orders._

Nico set down his spoon. "I'm sorry." Harry blinked, then narrowed his eyes. Nico was probably acting, trying to gain Harry's trust. _Although he's been doing pretty badly if that's his strategy. _

"You lost someone?" Harry asked bluntly. "Well, I'm sorry, but I spent my entire life being hated or admired because of things I couldn't control, not who I was. What about you?_"_

Nico's gaze snapped up, his eyes dark, as dark as death itself. "Maybe we're more alike than I thought. I went through the same things—more so than you could ever understand," Nico said. "Thanks for the ice cream."

Nico got up and left. Harry looked at Ron and Hermione. "Follow him?" he asked.

Hermione shook her head. "No. Just leave him alone for a while."

Harry glared at Hermione, his temper rising. Finally, he said: "How can you be _nice _to him? He's obviously evil, and obviously up to no good! He tried to _kill _me, Hermione!"

Hermione looked worried. "Yes...he did. But he hasn't tried to since, has he?"

"He sounded like he was planning to!"

Hermione shrugged. "Maybe. But we don't have proof. I think there's something he's not telling us."

"Well, obviously," Ron said. "He's a Dark wizard! My dad's seen Dark artifacts before; his sword matches the descriptions."

Hermione shook her head. "I don't think that's it."

Harry glared at her. "Well, I _know _that he's up to no good. Let's get back to the Leaky Cauldron. Summer ends in the day after tomorrow; we might as well pack. Besides, if we pack now, we can spend tomorrow investigating Nico."

Hermione sighed. "Anything that can make Harry Potter actually _pack _is worth doing," she said. "I'm already finished; you could use my help."

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

Nico couldn't believe what he'd heard. Harry had lost his parents. He'd spent his childhood rejected, and according to him, people admired him for that. Nico didn't know if all of that was true; at least Harry had _friends, _and powerful wizards to help him. Nico had no one to protect him; save Hades, who didn't really count. And Hazel. _And also Will. _Nico blinked. _Where did _that _thought come from? _

Nico shook his head. He fished a drachma out of his pack and grabbed a small glass prism. He was all set for Iris-messaging. Setting up the prism in front of the window, so the rainbow was set against the wall where Will and Hazel had appeared, Nico tossed in the drachma and murmured, "O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering. Show me Hazel Levesque."

An image of Hazel flickered into view. She was reading a book in Latin, in her cohort's room. It was the middle of the night. Oops. Well, Nico had messaged, so he might as well talk. "Hi, Hazel," he said. "Sorry for losing my temper last time we talked."

Hazel looked up. "Nico!" she looked delighted. "I have some great news!"

Nico blinked. "Really? What's that?"

"Well, I know a fawn who knows a wind-spirit who knows a harpy who knows another wind-spirit—"

"Could you _please _get to the point?" Nico asked.

"_WE CAN SEND YOU LETTERS! Using the winds! _Aeolus agreed to help as repayment for siding with Gaea, among other things."

Nico couldn't help it. He grinned; his facial muscles hurting from the new expression (which was pretty pathetic.) "Really? That's great, Hazel!"

Hazel bounced in her seat. "_And _Camp Half-Blood can send letters too! So far, Jason, Reyna, and Will have agreed to write once in a while. Oh, and _guess what? _We picked up a little signal from Festus! Leo may still be alive!"

"_Leo? _But he died, Hazel! We could sense it!"

Hazel grinned. "Well, we picked up Festus' signal around Florida and set up a homing beacon. If Leo's alive, he should be here soon; if not, Festus will be, at least."

Nico laughed. "Hazel, that's _awesome! _Oh, and GUESS WHAT I DID."

Hazel smirked. "Got possessed by youre ten-year old self?"

Nico blinked. "...No? But anyways. _Watch._" Nico brought out his wand and said: "_Lumos._"

A light flared at the tip of Nico's wand. Hazel gasped, covering her mouth. "You're a _wizard? _Now we can both do magic!"

Nico grinned again. "Yeah. Hades apparently had this specially made. Maybe he marched up to Hecate and said 'I WILL GIVE YOU 1000 DRACHMAS OR HANG YOU OVER THE RIVER LETHE FOR A CENTURY—THE MONEY IF YOU BLESS MY SON NICO WITH MAGIC, THE LETHE IF YOU DON'T.'"

Hazel snorted with laughter. "Yup. I think Will is starting to resurrect your ten-year old self. Who raises the dead, _now, _Death Boy?"

Nico smirked. "But that's not all. The son of darkness, creating light, in the middle of a school full of British wizards who drink _pumpkin juice _and use owls to send mail."

Hazel blinked. "They use owls? Do you want one?"

Nico shrugged. "They wouldn't like me."

"A screech owl might."

"They're noisy. I wouldn't get any sleep."

"Oh Nico," Hazel said. "Back to your old self."

Nico put on a gloomy face. "Yup," he said, before smirking again. "But a bird would be cool."

"I know! What about a raven? I had a conversation with one before I...before I died. They're symbols of death; maybe they'll like you."

"That's a pretty good idea," Nico said. _A raven. Sitting on my shoulder. The Pirate of Death—all I need is a nice boat and—SHUT UP, NICO. YOU ARE _NOT _A PIRATE. _"I'll check the pet store," he said.

Hazel smiled again. "I've gotta go, Nico," Hazel said, yawning. "There's legion training tomorrow, so I need sleep."

"I'll talk to you later. But the day after tomorrow, we go to Hogwarts, so I'll write more than I can IM."

"That's fine. Bye!"

"Bye." Nico waved his hand through the mist, cutting off the connection. Still smiling, he walked downstairs. Seeing Harry, Ron, and Hermione, Nico for once didn't immediately feel resentful. Although Harry was still giving off that disturbing aura. Nico nodded at them before walking outside, barely able to control his grin. He knew that he probably had been smirking.

Nico found a pet store: _The Magical Menagerie. _

He could see that the store sold more than owls; there were cats, rats, toads, a bat or two, and even stranger things. Nico walked in, the little bell on the door jingling. Every animal in the store hooted, screeched, or hissed at the sight of him, and Nico's good mood deflated. _Even animals hate me, _he thought sadly.

"What in Merlin's name is wrong with _you? _Get out!" The man behind the counter said.

Nico winced. "I—"

That was when the raven came at Nico and landed on his arm. Nico had been holding the door open; he'd expected the animals' reactions and hadn't let it close, ready to dart out before he could get clawed to bits. The raven had soared down from the rafters and perched on Nico's arm.

She cocked her head and cawed at him; Nico could understand her meaning, even though she didn't speak in words. She meant something like: _You're interesting. _Then, to the general public: _This human is mine! I claim him! _

"Hello," Nico said, scratching the raven under her chin, like a cat. She liked it. The other animals had quieted down; they must have decided that as long as Nico was ignoring them, and the raven was distracting him, they would be safe. Although they still looked awfully tense.

Nico started again. "I'd like to purchase this raven."

The salesmen huffed. "That would be seven galleons. And _don't _come back!"

"I won't," Nico said, giving him the money. Nico could sense that this raven was magical; she could shadow-travel herself and small objects if necessary; or at least, she _should _be able to. After purchasing the raven and thanking the salesman, Nico quickly left the store and headed back to the Leaky Cauldron.

"My name's Nico di Angelo," Nico told the raven.

The raven cocked her head. "Nico," she said. Nico was so startled he almost dropped her. The raven flapped her wings and let out an angry caw.

"You _talk? _I mean, Hazel told me ravens could, but Holy Hades, that was _fast._"

"Nico," the raven repeated. Her voice was raspy and still sounded bird-like; but it was clear what she was trying to say. _Like a black parrot, _Nico thought, before he could stop himself.

"I'll call you Ambra," Nico decided. "Like the Italian word for shadow, _ombra, _but prettier."

"Ambra," Ambra agreed. "Nico."

"That's right," Nico said. "Now, come meet my buddies."

Ambra cawed. Nico smirked. He couldn't wait to see Harry's face. In the back of his mind, Nico wondered how they'd react if he came in wearing an eyepatch and shouting "ARGH, MATEYS!" _Well, British people do say "mate" instead of "friend," Nico thought. But I am NOT wearing an eyepatch or saying "ARGH."_

Ambra let out a soft caw and nibbled Nico's ear affectionately. Her beak was sharp, like obsidian. "Ow," Nico said. "Please don't."

Ambra gave him a last nip, before she hopped up onto Nico's shoulder and perched there, surveying the world like, _Take THAT ye ugly owls! I am a RAVEN, and I have a nice demigod here! He's better than YOUR boring humans, that's for sure! _

Nico smiled at the thought. He walked back into the Leaky Cauldron. Harry, Ron and Hermione stared. Nico _almost _smiled at their expressions. Almost. Hermione looked like an owl, her brown eyes almost as wide, Ron looked almost jealous (from what Nico could figure, he couldn't afford a bird) and Harry looked like he'd been slapped. His white owl (Hedwig, if Nico remembered correctly—what kind of a name was Hedwig, anyways?) had a similar expression.

Ambra cawed at Hedwig. Hedwig screeched and flapped her white wings. Ambra launched herself off Nico's shoulder; flapping over Harry's head and cawing what Nico figured were raven curses at Hedwig. Hedwig responded by flapping up and diving at Ambra.

Nico decided to intervene before the birds hurt each other. "Ambra!" Ambra looked at him and cawed, like, _Sorry Nico. I've gotta protect my dignity and show this owl who's boss. _Nico sighed. He _really _didn't want to, but he didn't really have a choice. The raven and the snowy owl were already going at it—Hedwig tried to catch Ambra's wing in her talons; Ambra attempted to bite Hedwig's beak off.

Nico took a running start and jumped about five feet into the air, before grabbing Ambra and tugging her back down by one talon. She cawed in protest; Hedwig started hooting triumphantly before flapping back down to perch on Harry's head. Harry did not look comfortable with the situation.

"_Hedwig—_stop tearing my hair out!—and _get off my head!_"

Ambra was still trying to get out of Nico's hands. She pecked and scratched, but Nico kept holding her. "Calm down!" he hissed. "I'll let you go, but _don't _go fighting any more owls!"

Ambra stayed still. Nico let her go, and with a last angry caw, she flapped out an open window. Hedwig got off Harry's head and flapped after her. Nico watched them fly off with a resigned expression, his hands scratched up and bleeding. "Thanks, Ambra," he muttered to himself. "Really feeling the love over here."

Harry blinked. "Your bird—just tried-to _kill _my owl," he said, rubbing his head.

"My bird has some ego issues. As far as I can tell, she thinks that she is perfect, and everyone else is a pile of schist."

"Like you?"

Nico glared at Harry. "I'll go get her. Maybe I can talk some sense into her."

Harry blinked. "She understands you?"

"Usually."

Hermione looked like Annabeth when she was thinking—her eyes had that distant measuring look. "Hang on...you couldn't understand Hedwig, could you?"

Nico shook his head slowly. "...No..."

"Then...why could you understand ravens?"

Oh schist. Ravens were a symbol of death—and Nico was painstakingly obvious. The silver skull ring, the skull-and-bones T-shirt, the bone needle...sooner or later, Hermione would figure out his secret. And when she did, Nico would need to be ready.

Angry cawing and hooting drifted in from somewhere outside. "Bye." Nico ran out the door.

* * *

Two days later, Nico was eating a hurried breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron, having just packed. When he said "pack," he meant: cramming his clothes into his backpack, and cramming his school supplies into his bag. Harry, Ron, and Hermione came downstairs with either suitcases or trunks; Hermione carried a basket as well. Angry meows were coming from the basket; Hermione's new cat, Crookshanks, did not like his basket. Or Nico, for that matter. Harry looked troubled about something*****. When they saw Nico's supplies, just a bag and a backpack, both black, they looked somewhat surprised.

"That's _it?_" Ron asked. "That's all you own?"

Nico shrugged. "Pretty much. I left the rest behind in New York." Nico looked back down at the sleeves of his aviator's jacket.

Ron looked shocked. Nico wanted them to leave him alone; he dropped another hint. "I'm a bit tired. Didn't get much sleep. If you don't mind..."

"How come you didn't get much sleep?" Harry asked.

Nico was saved the trouble to respond when Ron's parents walked in. "We'll be taking some Ministry rental cars," Mrs. Weasley said.

Nico didn't feel like using the cars. "I have my own way."

Mrs. Weasley blinked. "What? No! You're to use the cars like the rest of us!"

Nico sighed. He would do what he had to. His plan had been to summon Jules-Albert, but that wouldn't work now. Nico slipped into one pf the two dark-green Ministry cars, and, the minute no one was looking at him, he shadow-traveled to a small alley in London he'd noticed. Then, Nico summoned Jules-Albert. His zombie driver. Hades had given Nico Jules-Albert as a birthday present; he'd had this "idea" that Jules-Albert could drive Nico around like a mortal dad would. Oh, and just to be clear: Jules-Albert did not look human. He also drove a black limo.

Nico got in the limo. "Please take me close to King's Cross Station, so I can shadow travel the last bit."

Jules-Albert nodded and drove off, weaving through the city streets with extreme patience—he never got road-rage. You could be stuck in traffic for days, and Jules-Albert would just keep driving, a pleasantly neutral expression on his face. When Nico could see King's Cross between some of the other buildings, he said: "This is okay, Jules."

The zombie nodded. Nico steeled his resolve and shadow traveled into the station. He had a temporary wave of dizziness—he hadn't yet recovered from Tartarus, the jar, the Athena Parthenos, and the recent jump across the Atlantic. There were several platforms; Nico walked to the ones marked "9" and "10." He'd asked how they got to Hogwarts; Hermione had explained that they took a train from "Platform 9 3/4." To get to that platform, you walked into the wall marking the barrier between platforms 9 and 10.

Nico had had experience walking into walls. It wasn't fun. Carefully, he walked to the wall and rested his hand against it; his hand went straight through, and this time, it was the wall turning insubstantial, not his arm. Nico walked through and emerged onto a platform bustling with wizards, witches, and Hogwarts students wearing their robes.

Nico had been fitted for robes; although he didn't plan on wearing his. Even though they were black, Nico felt more comfortable in his aviator's jacket. There were also school shirts, but Nico _definitely _wasn't wearing those unless he had to. Nico headed aboard the train, found an empty compartment, and stowed his stuff in the overhead luggage rack. He then flopped down on one of the bench/booth/couch things (there were two per compartment, with a small table thing next to the windows, still tired from his two shadow-jumps.

And then, before he knew it, Nico fell asleep.

* * *

**Harry's PoV**

Nico was missing. They didn't notice that until after the ride. Harry could have sworn that he'd entered their car, but when they'd gotten in, he wasn't there. The Weasleys figured he must be in the other car. It wasn't until they reached the entrance to Platform 3/4 Quarters that they realized Nico was missing.

"I didn't see him in our car," Ginny said.

"He wasn't in ours," Ron replied. "Good riddance."

"Ron!" Mrs. Weasley scolded. "He's _missing, _for goodness' sake!"

"He said he had his own way," Harry said.

Mrs. Weasley sighed irritably. "Very well," she said. "You go ahead and see if he's on the train. If he is, one of you come back and tell me. If not...tell me that, too."

Nico was up to no good, no doubt, Harry thought. He'd gotten a Sneakoscope from Diagon Alley; Ron had suggested it. However, Harry hadn't been able to test it around Nico yet. Taking it out of his trunk's outer pocket, Harry decided this was a good chance to try.

Harry lugged his trunk aboard the train and checked the compartments. He found Nico in an empty one near the end of the train. Well..._almost _empty. A man was sleeping in the shadows under the luggage rack; his clothes were shabby, and he looked quite exhausted; as he was asleep. Nico, meanwhile, was slumped against the window...also asleep. Harry figured Nico hadn't noticed the man—Nico would _never _fall asleep in the same room as someone he didn't know. Even Harry could tell that much.

"Who's that?" Ron asked curiously.

Harry jumped. "Don't sneak up on me like that! Also, I found Nico. He's..."

"Asleep," Hermione noted. "Also, that man's name is R.J. Lupin."

"What? How d'know?"

"It's on his case," Hermione whispered, pointing. _Professor R.J. Lupin _was stamped on the case in faded bronze letters; the case was held together by lots of neatly knotted string.

"What's he teach?" Harry asked.

"Probably D.A.D.A; it's the only vacant post," Ron said.

"Nico doesn't look too good," Hermione noted, surveying the compartment.

She was right. Nico, now that Harry took a closer look at him when he wasn't constantly moving around, was thin and, while his skin was olive-toned, it was also very pale. Dark shadows sat under Nico's eyes, as though he didn't sleep well, if at all.

"What's wrong with him?" Harry asked.

Ron shrugged. "Dunno. Honestly, don't care."

"Ron!" Hermione said.

"What?" he asked.

Hermione sighed. "Well, I'll go tell Mrs. Weasley that Nico's okay. You guys stay here in case anything happens."

"_Alone?_" Harry and Ron said at the same time.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes, alone," she said. "You'll be fine. Nico probably won't wake up any time soon."

The moment Hermione left, Nico stirred, proving her wrong. Harry wondered if he'd been faking it. Probably. Nico then jumped to his feet and activated his sword. "Get—get away!" he said, a faraway look in his eyes. Professor Lupin, of course, slept through this all. Some teacher.

"Nico!" Harry said. "What are you _doing?_"

Nico's gaze refocused. He slumped in relief. "Oh. It's just you." Nico stiffened again, looking around warily. Then, he sheafed his sword again and sat down. "So. Hogwarts. How does it work?"

Warily, Ron and Harry sat, on the other bench. "Well, you're sorted into four houses. Me, Ron, and Hermione are in-"

"It's Ron, Hermione and _I_, Harry," Hermione said, walking in. "Nico? You're awake already?"

Nico nodded, then noticed Lupin. "Who's that?" he asked.

"He was in there when I arrived," Harry said. "Asleep. I'm assuming you didn't notice him.

Nico looked somewhat embarrassed. He shook his head. "But anyways...houses?"

Ron nodded. "Yeah. Harry, Hermione, and _I _are in Gryffindor, the best house! The brave, noble, daring house!"

"The house with an ego," Nico muttered.

Ron frowned at him before saying: "Then there's Ravenclaw, the house for the smart people, and people who think outside the box. Hufflepuff is kind of the house for the people who don't fit with the other three-"

"So, me," Nico muttered.

"It's also the house for loyal and hard-working people," Hermione interjected.

"Right," Ron said. "And _Slytherin _is for _evil prats _who try to _kill people_-"

"_Ron!_" Hermione snapped. Turning back to Nico, she added: "Slytherin is the house for the cunning and ambitious, and does harbor a lot of Dark wizards—"

Harry and Ron looked at Nico meaningfully.

"—but _also _has housed some very famous wizards, like Merlin."

"Huh. How are you sorted?" Nico asked. "A test?"

"Of sorts," Hermione said, getting excited. "You put on a hat called the Sorting Hat. It decides what house you should be in, and once you're sorted, you can earn house points, but also can lose them if you break the rules—Nico?"

Nico was snoring now, leaning against the window.

"Ohhh-kay then," Harry muttered. "You've got a real attentive audience, Hermione."

Hermione looked worried. "That can _not _be normal," she said.

Harry and Ron stared. Ron shrugged. "He'll be fine."

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "We're not that lucky."

Hermione scowled, but sat across from Ron and Harry, near Nico, and looked out the window.

"Er..." Harry started. "This may not be a good time, but Mr. Weasley told me that Sirius Black was after me."

"_What?_" Hermione and Ron said simultaneously.

"I overheard him talking about it last night, and then before the train left, he told me not to go looking for Black, no matter what happened."

Hermione looked worried. "Harry, you'll be careful, right?"

Harry nodded. Of course he'd be careful. "I doubt Black could make it into Hogwarts anyways," Harry said.

"He escaped from Azkaban," Ron said. "There's no telling what he can do. Also, we have this guy to worry about; maybe they're helping each other." Ron jerked his head at Nico.

Hermione looked like she was thinking. The trio was silent for a while.

The trolly witch came by; Harry and Ron got their usual sweets: Licorice wands and Cauldron Cakes, Chocolate Frogs, Peppermint Imps...the likes. They munched on their food, enjoying the scenery, until Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle came along.

"Well look who it is," Malfoy drawled. "Potty and the Weasel." Crabbe and Goyle chuckled. "I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley. Did your mother die of shock?"

Ron stood up; Crookshank's basket fell to the floor; Crookshanks leapt up and immediately tried to claw Nico's face off. Hermione lunged and grabbed him; holding the angry cat back so he would't cause mass panic.

"Who's that?" Malfoy asked, eyeing Nico. "And that?" he asked again, spotting Lupin.

"New teacher," Ron said, nodding at Professor Lupin. "New student," he added, indicating Nico.

Malfoy's gray eyes narrowed; but he wasn't that stupid: picking fights with a teacher in the room. "C'mon," he muttered to Crabbe and Goyle, before turning and leaving.

The group sat down again, Hermione calming Crookshanks down. "He's not _that _bad, Crookshanks," she said. Crookshanks sniffed the air and growled, but decided to leave Nico alone and turn his attention to Ron's rat, Scabbers, who he hated—Harry didn't have a clue why. Cats were cats.

Speaking of pets, Harry hadn't seen Nico's raven since that morning. He wondered where she'd gone. Hedwig was in her cage with Harry's luggage; he wondered if Nico had returned the bird.

Ron broke Harry out of his thoughts. "I'm not going to take any crap from Malfoy this year," he said angrily. "I mean it. If he makes one more crack about my family, I'm going to get hold of his head and—" Ron made a violent gesture in midair.

"Ron!" Hermione scolded. She was about to continue: "Be _care—_"

But that was when the lights flickered. The train drew to a halt, and the air around them steamed with cold. Nico was asleep...which meant whatever was doing this wasn't Nico. Something else was on the train.

* * *

** Author's Notes: _Well, they already read Prisoner of Azkaban, so it's not like this counts as a cliffhanger or anything—_**

**Reviewers: WHY DID YOU END ON A CLIFFHANGER!?**

**Me: ...**

**On to the author's notes...**

**Well, I hoped you liked that! I promise: dementors will be in next chapter. And sometime after that: Professor Trelawney's crazy death omens, and Boggarts! Oh, and SORTING! Yay!**

***Since the land of the dead is to the west, which is leftwards, I made Nico left-handed. Also, people used to think left-handedness meant that someone was possessed by the devil (or at least, the War that Saved My Life said so.) So it seemed fitting that Nico was better with his left hand; however, his right hand isn't far behind, so he is ALMOST ambidextrous.**

***What Harry was troubled about was hearing that Sirius Black would probably come after him.**

**And yes, ravens can talk. In real life. Although this one is probably a bit more intelligent than most. Also, olive skin, is, from what I heard, skin with more of a brown/olive undertone, rather than pink. It could probably be pale.**

**GAH THIS IS EVEN LONGER THAN THE LAST CHAPTER! 7000 WORDS WAT HOW-**


	4. Nico Discovers the Glory of Chocolate

**Rising from Shadowed Ashes **

**GreenCrystal19**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Heroes of Olympus; they belong to respective authors; J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan. Cover art by Viktoria Ridzel (Viria/viria13/vika) as usual. Her art is amazing; she is now the official portrait artist.**

* * *

**Author's Notes: Sorry 'bout that small cliffy. Rule #1 of the Wizarding world: If you value your sanity, _don't go near dementors _without a good Patronus charm to, as Vernon Dursley said, "give em' the old one-two"—or something like that, anyways. Nico, be prepared to learn. *Evil smile.***

* * *

**Chapter 4: Nico Discovers the Glory of Chocolate**

**Nico's PoV**

Nico woke up abruptly, jumping and banging his head on the luggage rack. The lights flickered; they were plunged into darkness. The train had stopped moving; the air steaming with cold. "What's happening?" Nico asked warily, already reaching for his ring.

"I don't know," Harry said, tense.

"There's something moving out there..." Ron said. "I think people are coming."

Nico tensed. "I...I don't think they're people...or at least, not normal ones."

Harry glanced at Nico. "What are you talking about, Nico?"

"I...I brought them here." _Monsters. I'm a son of Hades; they sensed me and they came._

Ron glared at Nico. "You betrayed us!"

Nico winced. He'd been blamed for betrayal before, and rightly so...that time long ago, in the Underworld. Nico shook his head. "No. They came for _me._"

The compartment door rattled, and opened. A figure stood in the doorway: tall, cold, and dark. A rotting, slimy hand protruded from the black cloak the creature wore—the hand was scabbed, with thin, rotting skin. The creature turned it's face (or where it's face would have been) to look at Nico. It inhaled, a long, rattling breath, like it was trying to suck more than air into it's lungs.

And that's when it happened. _Nico was ten again. Percy Jackson stood in front of him. "She wanted you to have this," he said, offering Nico a lead Hades figurine—the only Mythomagic character he didn't have. Nico took it and held it in his palm, staring at it.  
_

_A wave of hurt and anguish rolled over Nico, as he looked at the figurine. Bianca was all he'd had, and Percy hadn't kept her safe. He'd been the reason she died. And yet...Nico still couldn't help admiring the son of Poseidon. "You promised you would protect her."_

_"Nico, I tried. But Bianca gave herself up to save the rest of us. I told her not to. But she—"_

_"You promised!" Nico glared at Percy, hatred in his eyes. And guilt—why had Bianca left him? Had she been mad at Nico...? Why had she gone on the quest? "I shouldn't have trusted you. My nightmares were right!"_

_"Wait. What nightmares?" _

_Nico threw the statue to the ground. "I hate you!" he yelled._

Another memory washed over Nico. He was thirteen this time.

_Tartarus—it had__ been horrible. Nico had almost been driven insane...but he couldn't afford to think of that. Ni__co sat in the bronze jar, barely conscious. He'd eaten the last seed—there was no more waiting. Either he'd live, or he'd die. And if he died, if he didn't pass on the information he'd found—Nico would have failed. Again._

The worst memory yet. In a town called Split, encountering Nico's deepest fears.

_"Nico, it's okay. I get it," Jason said._

_Nico looked at Jason, his face a mask of pain and misery. "No, you don't. There's no way you can understand."_

And so you run away again, _Cupid chided. _From your friends, from yourself.

_"I have no friends!" Nico yelled, the truth hitting him like a sledgehammer. He'd always known it, but still, he'd hoped that maybe, just maybe...no. "I left Camp Half-Blood because I don't belong! I'll never belong!"_

_"Leave him alone Cupid," Jason tried to say. "This isn't..."_

_Nico looked down. He had to do it—it was the only way. "I—I wasn't in love with Annabeth."_

_"You were jealous of her," Jason said. "That's why you didn't want to be around her. Especially why you didn't want to be around...him. It makes total sense."_

_Had Nico's secret been that obvious all along? There was nothing left to say...except..._

_"I hated myself. I hated Percy Jackson. I had a crush on Percy. That's the truth. That's the big secret." Nico glared at Cupid. "Happy now?"_

The visions all combined, spiraling and thickening into a wall of darkness that pressed against Nico's mind, and his very soul. He couldn't see. He couldn't hear. He could barely feel the floor under him. It was all darkness, cold, lonely darkness—Nico would never be happy again. Colder and colder, deeper and deeper—he would be trapped forever.

"_Expecto patronum!_" Nico became aware of his surroundings again, although he still felt awfully cold...Silver light surrounded him. _Where did _that _come from? _Nico thought. The cold presence retreated—whatever that _creature _was, it was gone. But the darkness and the cold remained. Nico tried to sit up, before realizing that he'd faded again. He was dark smoke, a shadow of his old self. _No! _It had taken Coach Hedge three days to restore him last time this had happened. _I can't start fading! I need to stay here! __Please, Hades—Father—if you're listening, please help._

Nico focused on what was important—talking to Hazel, Reyna, Jason, and Will again, seeing Camp Half-Blood again...and suddenly, he was solid again. Although Nico doubted he would be able to go anywhere for a while. He closed his eyes. _I'll be fine. I just need a moment. _

"Are you alright?" a voice asked. Nico opened his eyes. The man from earlier—the one Nico hadn't noticed when he'd first came into the compartment. "My name is Professor Remus Lupin. I'll be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." Professor Lupin's brow creased. "When the dementor—that's what that was, that hooded thing—came into the compartment, you..._faded. _Turned to smoke. Harry collapsed as well, but he didn't...undergo any changes."

Nico managed to sit up, bracing himself against one hand. "It's...a personal problem. I thought I'd fixed it." That wasn't entirely true—Nico hadn't been at _all _sure that he'd fixed the fading issue—but he didn't need any teachers fussing over him.

Lupin nodded, although his expression said he'd want to talk later. _I'll need to avoid that, _Nico thought to himself. Lupin interrupted his thoughts with an order: "Here. Have some chocolate."

Nico blinked. "Have...have some chocolate?"

Lupin nodded, jerking his head towards Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who were looking at Nico with expressions ranging from suspicious to shocked to very concerned. _Oh, schist! I collapsed in front of THEM? _Nico attempted to get to his feet, but dark spots danced around his vision, and he stumbled. Lupin caught him, so Nico could sit down on one of the benches and try to look dignified. "The chocolate helps," Professor Lupin continued, as though nothing had happened.

Nico wasn't so sure about that, but he took a piece and nibbled on it. The chocolate_ did _help—Nico decided right then and there that as soon as he could, he would be stocking up on chocolate. Who knew? Maybe it would let him shadow travel better. "...Thanks," Nico managed. "What exactly was that..._dementor..._doing on the train?"

Professor Lupin nodded to himself. "Yes, I figured you'd ask. The dementors are the guards of the wizard prison Azkaban—" Nico shuddered. Wizards were put in prison with _those? _And Nico had almost joined them... "—and are hunting for an escapee named Sirius Black, the only one to have _ever _escaped Azkaban. They came from Hogwarts; they will be guarding the entrances during the year, which Professor Dumbledore finds..._improper_."

Harry looked odd when he heard the name _Sirius Black—_Nico wondered if Harry knew anything about him. "Oh," Nico said. "Um...thanks." Nico leaned against the compartment wall and proceeded to look out the window, purposefully ignoring the others. What he'd seen...those were the worst things Nico had ever experienced. And that cold feeling of heavy darkness, like Nico would never be happy again...Nico didn't like that feeling. He shivered. _Never again, _Nico promised himself.

Around half an hour later (the dementors would've come from Hogwarts, presumably, so they couldn't have been far away when the one dementor had arrived) the train pulled into a platform, and it was time to get out. The others had changed into their Hogwarts robes, simply pulling them on over whatever they were originally wearing. Nico hadn't bothered; he still felt weak from when the dementor had appeared—as though he'd been shadow traveling too much, which frankly, he had been. The cold feeling _still _hadn't left him, either. Nico was reminded of that one time, long ago, when he'd gotten the flu. Bianca had taken care of him for a week, and then helped him get all his homework done; this had been during Nico's time at Westover Hall. He felt a bit shaky—and if any other monsters came for him, Nico would probably do one of the following: A) drop his sword, B) cut off his arm/leg/head, or C) trip and fall on his sword. Nico was hoping to avoid any of that nonsense.

Despite having the dementor-flu, Nico steeled his resolve and stood up, grabbing his backpack and schoolbag off the luggage rack. Lupin had left to assist anyone else the dementor had bothered—and probably to make sure no more came. Unfortunately, when Nico stood, he experienced a wave of disorienting darkness so bad that Nico almost sat down again, swaying slightly, like he'd spent fifteen minutes spinning in circles just to get dizzy. _No. Get your stuff and leave. You need to think somewhere—_away _from people. _

Nico slung on his backpack. He doubted he could walk three _feet _without tripping or collapsing or falling or something, but he wasn't about to admit that. Nico took a step forwards. "Do you need any help?" Hermione asked.

"I'm. _Fine,_" Nico said through gritted teeth, walking forwards and trying to look inconspicuous as he used the compartment wall for support. Nico made it off the train alright. That was easy—the hall was narrow and crowded, so Nico didn't have to worry about tripping or anything. It was when they got _off t_he train that things got worse.

For one thing—it was dark on the platform; Nico could already feel his outline shifting to swirling black smoke. Another problem: no walls. And Nico wasn't sure he'd be able to walk all the way to the castle, which perched on a rocky hill. Fortunately, Nico could see a row of carriages pulled by...skeletal black horses, with bat-like wings and dragonish heads. Nico followed Ron, Hermione, and Harry and joined them in a carriage.

"So...since you've all been here before, can you answer a few questions, please?" Nico asked.

"Sure," Hermione replied. The other two exchanged nervous glances and nodded. "What do you want to know?"

"Well," Nico started, "when do I get sorted?"

"Right before dinner," Hermione answered. "Every year, the Sorting Hat sings a song, before sorting all of the new students into their houses."

"Wait..." Nico said. "This Sorting Hat...it _talks? _Does everyone have to hear it as it talks about whatever it sees in your head?"

Ron's eyes widened. "God, no," he said. "That would be _so _embarrassing."

Nico breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Hades," he muttered to himself.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"Um...nothing," Nico said quickly. "Also, what are those things pulling the carriages?"

Hermione blinked, looking out the window. "...What things, Nico? I don't see anything. The carriages pull themselves."

"You...you don't?" Nico asked confused. "But...they're right there. They look like black skeletal horses, with black wings."

Harry blinked. "I still don't see anything," he said. "You're not going nuts, are you?"

"No!" Nico snapped. _Maybe the Mist conceals them. I guess I won't be mentioning them again any time soon, that's for sure. _"Never mind. Forget I said anything." Nico turned away looked out the window for the rest of the ride. They passed the two dementors guarding the gates; Nico almost passed out again, reliving the memory of when he'd found out that Bianca had been reborn. _She was gone. Nico would never see her again..._

A few minutes later, the students got out of their carriages and began walking to Hogwarts. As Nico stepped out of the carriage, a dark shadow swooped out of the sky. Ambra cawed proudly. "Nico!" she said.

"You seem happy to see me," Nico said, scratching the raven under her chin. Ambra cawed again, before picking at Nico's hair with her beak, like she was cleaning it. "Um...thanks?" Ambra made a small cooing sound before continuing to pick at Nico's hair. Nico couldn't help smiling.

Hermione looked amused. "You look happy," she said to Nico.

Nico shrugged, before continuing up the hill towards Hogwarts. Something about Ambra seemed to have helped Nico recover after the dementor episode. The students entered two large wooden oak doors, before emerging into a grand Entrance Hall. A marble staircase was directly opposite of the entrance doors, leading to the castle's higher levels. To Nico's right was another set of double doors, which the other students were walking through—the Great Hall, no doubt. Along the wall were four hourglass-labeled Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin, filled with their respective colored gems.

A tall witch wearing emerald green robes appeared next to Nico. Her face was stern, and her black and gray hair was pulled into a neat bun. She also wore a pointed black hat, like the type people wear during Halloween. "I am Professor Minerva McGonagall. Since you are new to Hogwarts, Nico di Angelo, you should come with me to the Chamber of Reception."

Nico blinked. "...What?"

"The Chamber of Reception. First years and new students wait there to enter the hall for the Sorting Ceremony."

"Oh," Nico said. "Alright."

Professor McGonagall eyed Ambra. "And your bird shouldn't come into the Great Hall with you. I can have Argus take her to the Owlery."

Nico did a double-take before realizing that the Professor probably didn't mean Argus from Camp Half-Blood, who had one hundred eyes. "Um...I think Ambra would rather just fly free."

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips. "Very well."

Nico opened one of the doors that led outside and released Ambra. "Watch the Sorting Ceremony," he whispered. "Meet me in whatever dormitory I end up in." Ambra cocked her head and cawed; Nico could have sworn that she nodded.

Nico followed Professor McGonagall until he arrived in a chamber filled with younger students, who all looked nervous. She then went over how the Sorting worked, and how house points worked. Nico didn't really pay attention—without Ambra around, the effects of the dementors were returning again, and Nico felt tired and cold once more.

When the Professor had finally finished talking, Nico joined the first years to be sorted. The list was alphabetical by last name, and since Nico's last name was Angelo, he was almost first in line. After watching the two kids in front of him get sorted, Nico warily approached the stool where the Sorting Hat of Doom sat, and let Professor McGonagall put it over his head as Nico sat on the stool.

_Ah, what have we here? A demigod...and a son of Hades, no less! _The hat murmured. Probing deeper, the hat said, _You are going to be a challenge to sort. So much pain...and death...and—and—_the hat now seemed overwhelmed. Nico decided to help it.

"Yeah, get on with it," Nico growled. In his mind, Nico said: _I know. I've been through a lot. Now, get on with sorting me. _

_Powerful, and determined...but you have quite the temper, _the hat continued. Must it be insufferably annoying?

The hat was silent for a long moment. _...I see. You did all of it out of love for your sisters, or for him-__  
_

"Do _not _go there," Nico muttered.

_Even more powerful than I realized, and cunning. Your fatal flaw is holding grudges. You'd do well in Slytherin._

_No! I will _not _be sorted into the evil house again!_

_But your power is also one of your greatest fears, along with being left out and—_Nico knew what was coming. He clamped down his mental shields, but it was too late. The hat continued, —_and your true loves being discovered._

Drat. The hat was a pile of schist. _Really? REALLY? _Nico thought at it.

_You're a feisty one, _the hat mused, sounding amused. _Well, you may fit in in Slytherin. But you are brave, very brave, and willing to take risks. I feel you belong in...GRYFFINDOR!_

The hat shouted the last word. Nico was relieved—he wasn't in the evil house—but also horrified. He was in _Harry's house! _What kind of prank were the Fates trying to play on him? Harry's expression said that he agreed.

Nico looked up. He could see Ambra looking in one of the windows, before flying off. And the ceiling...the ceiling was amazing-like the sky, black, and covered in stars and galaxies and planets, a bit like the palace on Olympus. Hogwarts really _was _magical.

Nico walked over to the Gryffindor table, a small splattering of applause following him. It seemed that somehow, everyone knew about his strange dementor episode, as well as his trying to kill Harry. Okay, he hadn't actually tried to kill Harry, but apparently that was the story Harry had told.

Nico walked over to where the trio was and sat there. Why? Well, it wasn't like Nico knew anyone else. Even sitting next to three annoying people was better than sitting next to three hostile people Nico didn't even know.

"So, you're in Gryffindor now," Harry said.

"Yup."

"You stay at Hogwarts for the whole year?"

"Yup."

"Okay," Harry muttered. "Now two of them are after me."

Nico gave him a curious look. Hermione and Ron looked like they already knew what Harry was talking about, but didn't explain it to Nico.

Dumbledore stood and began talking. "Welcome!" he began. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast. . . ."

Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued, "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business." He paused, and Nico remembered what Lupin had said about Dumbledore not being happy with the dementors guarding the school. "They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds," Dumbledore continued, "and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises—or even Invisibility Cloaks," he added blandly, and Harry and Ron glanced at each other.

Nico wondered what that was about.

"It is not in the nature of a dementor to understand pleading or excuses," Dumbledore continued. "I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the dementors."

Dumbledore paused again; he looked very seriously around the hall, and nobody moved or made a sound. "On a happier note," he continued, "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year.

"First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." There was some scattered, rather unenthusiastic applause. Nico and Harry clapped more enthusiastically; if not for Lupin, Nico wasn't sure he'd be alive right right now.

"Look at Snape!" Ron hissed. Professor Snape, a man in black robes with thin, oily black hair, was staring along the staff table at Professor Lupin. Nico was startled at the expression twisting his thin, sallow face. It was beyond anger: It was hate.

"As to our second new appointment," Dumbledore continued as the lukewarm applause for Professor Lupin died away. "Well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared at one another, stunned. Then they joined in with the applause, which was tumultuous at the Gryffindor table in particular. Nico craned his neck to see Hagrid; he was large with a bushy beard that covered most of his face and beady black eyes. Despite his intimidating appearance, Hagrid radiated kindness, like Bob had after his dip in the River Lethe. Hagrid was ruby-red in the face and staring down at his enormous hands, his wide grin hidden in the tangle of his black beard.

"We should've known!" Ron roared, pounding the table. "Who else would have assigned us a biting book?" Harry, Ron, and Hermione were the last to stop clapping, and as Professor Dumbledore started speaking again, they saw that Hagrid was wiping his eyes on the tablecloth. Nico hadn't noticed the biting book; although he had noticed a quivering green book that had been tied shut. That must have been it.

"Well, I think that's everything of importance," said Dumbledore. "Let the feast begin!" The golden plates and goblets before them filled suddenly with food and drink. Nico was about to say that he wasn't hungry, but suddenly realized that he was ravenous. He hadn't had any food since _breakfast. _

Nico grabbed some chicken-pot pie, bread, and milk and dug in. The food was good—Nico decided he would have to tell the people back at camp about it. The goblets, however, refused to fill with whatever Nico wanted. That was fine though; there was milk, water, juice, pumpkin juice, and soda—more than enough for Nico.

Once everyone had finished eating, the food disappeared, leaving the plates clean and spotless. Then, dessert appeared. Nico gasped. "Oh my gods!" he said.

"What?" Harry asked, looking at Nico.

"_I need to replenish my chocolate stash. _Right now." The others stared as Nico grabbed all the chocolate he could find and stuffed it in the pockets of his aviator jacket Nico blinked. "What? I didn't take _all _of it."

"Er..." Hermione said. "Look around."

Nico did. The area of table within Nico's reach was completely devoid of chocolate. "Oh. Sorry...?"

Hermione snickered. "It's fine, Nico," she said, laughing.

Nico blinked. "What's funny?"

Hermione regained her composure. "Nothing."

Nico went back to eating the bits of chocolate that hadn't gone into his stash. Soon enough, dessert ended as well. A Prefect—"Percy Weasley" and the exact opposite of Percy Jackson—led the Gryffindors to their dormitory. He stopped outside a painting of a fat lady in a pink dress—as Nico had soon realized, the paintings in Hogwarts moved.

"Password?" the lady asked.

"Fortuna major," Percy Weasley said. The painting opened, and the Gryffindors walked inside. Nico walked into a circular room. The room was warm and cosy; a crackling fireplace dominated one wall, and a portrait of a lion stood above the mantle. Soft red armchairs stood in front of the fireplace, and red and gold couches, as well as tapestries, were scattered around the room. The bookcases, tables, and other wooden furniture was oak. In general, the whole room felt warm and cosy, a little bit like the flames in Hestia's eyes. (Hestia was goddess of the hearth, and most people, other than Nico, forgot about her.)

Two doors led to two spiral stone staircases. Tired, Nico followed Harry and Ron up the boy's staircase and entered the third year students' dormitory, one out of seven dormitories, for seven years at Hogwarts.

Five four-poster beds were scattered around the room, for Harry, Ron, Neville, Dean, and Thomas, the boys in Harry's year. A sixth had been placed by the window, for Nico. _Away from the shadows, probably so I don't start fading again, _Nico thought. Perched on the outer windowsill was Ambra. Nico quickly walked over and opened the window; Ambra hopped up onto Nico's arm and gave him a sharp nip, like, _Why'd you take so long, Death Boy?_

Nico got some pajamas out of his backpack and got ready for bed. He wondered what he would do about brushing his teeth; there didn't seem to be a bathroom anywhere. Even the _Hades cabin _had a bathroom.

Flopping down in his bed, Nico started up at the little roof thingy above him, closing the curtains. Ambra poked her beak between the crack and wiggled in, before making a nest of of Nico's blankets and plopping down on his chest.

"You really want to sleep there?" Nico asked. Reconsidering, Ambra opening the curtains a little bit and perched on the side windowsill (Nico's bed was positioned next to the window in a way that let him look out of the window or use the windowsill as a nightstand, whichever came first) before tucking her head under her wing.

Flopping back down, Nico closed his eyes and fell asleep. His first day at Hogwarts—one day out of a whole school year. Hopefully Nico wouldn't mess up in classes tomorrow.

Ha. Boy, was he wrong. Nico would mess up in class _big time._

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**Author's Notes: I hope you enjoyed that! Any reviews and feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!  
**


	5. Buckbeak and Boggarts

**Rising from Shadowed Ashes**

**GreenCrystal19**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Heroes of Olympus; they belong to respective authors; J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan. Cover art by Viktoria Ridzel (Viria/viria13/vika) as usual. Her art is amazing; she is now the official portrait artist.**

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**Author's Notes: Hey guys! I've been been QUITE busy recently, so I've been neglecting my writing/reading a little. But I read the necessary chapters from Prisoner of Azkaban, and am finally ready to start writing this chapter! Whee!**

**Reader discretion is advised. This chapter contains boggarts, Grims, and hippogriffs. Just kidding! Anyone can read, LOL.**

**The title is a play on the chapter name "Talons and Tea Leaves" from the actual book.**

**Warning: this chapter will be LONG. Very, VERY long. Like, VERY long. Like, very, _very, _VERY-okay, I'll stop now. Enjoy! **

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**Chapter 5: Buckbeak and Boggarts**

**Nico's PoV**

Nico woke up when Ambra and Crookshanks started fighting. Somehow, Crookshanks had made it into the boy's dormitory, and had gotten angry with Ambra when she tried to prevent him from eating Ron's rat, Scabbers. _Again_.

Sighing, Nico grabbed Crookshanks and tossed him out the door; he landed on his feet, hissed, and ran downstairs. Nico found Scabbers and put him back on Ron's nightstand. "You're awfully thin," Nico told the rat. "Ron wasn't kidding; you look almost as bad as I did...after Tartarus." The rat looked confused. Nico wondered why he wasn't terrified; most animals hated Nico. "You be careful. Crookshanks _hates _you, if you haven't noticed."

Nico stretched, looking around. His first day at Hogwarts. Oh, great. Did they have _classes? _Probably. Sighing, Nico got dressed, not bothering to wear his uniform. Ambra took her usual perch on Nico's shoulder; Nico grabbed his school bag and he padded downstairs—the sooner he got away from Gryffindor Tower, the sooner Nico would be safe from his nosy classmates. Also, he was hungry.

As Nico was about to head out the portrait hole, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. That could only mean one thing. "Where are _you _going?" Harry asked.

Nico turned and gave Harry a cold look. "Breakfast," he said. Ambra cawed in agreement. Before Harry could ask anything else, Nico whirled and darted out the portrait hole, before walking quickly down the corridor. Nico got lost pretty quickly; the halls of Hogwarts were vast and confusing. Like the Labyrinth. _Do _not _start thinking about that place, _Nico told himself.

Nico aimlessly wandered around for a little while, halfheartedly trying to find the Great Hall. As Nico walked into a four-way corridor, a glowing silver figure glided through him. Nico jumped and shoved it away from him; the figure became solid as soon as Nico touched it. "_Excuse _me," the ghost said. Seeing Nico, he changed course in a flash. "My lord! I am Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington! How can I help you?"

Nico rolled his eyes. Magic ghosts. Of course. Hades would be _triggered_. "Three things," Nico said, irritated. "One: Don't call me lord. Just Nico. Two: Pass that on to the other ghosts. And three: Do you know where the Great Hall is?"

"Of course lo-" Sir Nicholas cut himself off. "Nico! I'd be happy to help."

Nico followed the ghost as he led Nico to the Great Hall. As they walked (or glided, in Sir Nicholas' case) the ghost told Nico all about Hogwarts: about Quidditch, a story played on brooms, about the various Hogwarts feasts, about the House Cup, and lastly, about Hogsmeade.

"Wait," Nico said. "Everyone goes to Hogsmeade? Not just selected students?"

Sir Nicholas gave Nico a funny look. "Yes," he said. "You should have gotten a form. Didn't you?"

Nico blinked, then checked his bag. Indeed, he did have a form. However, it wasn't like Hades would have time to—Nico's eyes darted to the bottom of the page. _ᾍδης_ was written on the bottom of the page—Greek for "Hades." Below that was a note reading: _And don't do anything dangerous or stupid! Doctor's orders! -Will Solace_

Nico blinked. "Since _when _was Will my doctor?" He asked himself.

"What?" Sir Nicholas asked. The ghost seemed almost friendly now; not as nervous as before.

"Will's my...um...friend from back in New York," Nico said.

Sir Nicholas nodded. "And then there's your father."

Nico nodded. "Um...can you do me a favor?" Nico asked. The ghost waited. "Don't mention my father to anyone. Or anything else you know about me. Make sure the other ghosts know."

Sir Nicholas nodded, before stopping. "Here we are," he said.

Nico looked up; they were in the Entrance Hall. "Thanks," he said. "See you around?"

Sir Nicholas nodded before gliding off, straight through the wall. Even so, he was a lot more civilized than the Roman Lares; who would always stand inside of you, not just do it once by accident; in addition, most Lares had horrible conversation skills, in Nico's experience.

Nico walked into the Great Hall and found a spot at the Gryffindor table, which had a healthy spattering of students and was filling quickly. He munched on some bagels, remembering a dumb song from Camp Half-Blood that would loop around and around until someone replaced one of the words with ice cream. Leo had liked that song; he must have enjoyed annoying people. Leo had also liked to sing "WE'RE GOING ON A TRIP ON OUR FAVORITE FESTUS SHIP/SOARING THROUGH THE SKY/LITTLE DEMI-GUYS!" It had annoyed the dam schist out of Nico.

Nico still couldn't believe that Leo was alive—he was _sure _that he'd died. But if Leo was alive, that meant that the camp wouldn't need to blame Nico for his death. They might not hate him. Nico remembered Hazel and Will saying that the campers didn't hate Nico, but he shook the thought off. _I'm the son of Hades. I'll never belong_.

Nico then realized three things: firstly, he'd been staring at his bagel (the one he'd taken one bite out of) for the past ten minutes, he hadn't even touched his orange juice, and lastly, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were coming towards him. Nico gave them an cautious glance. "Can I help you?"

Ron returned Nico's glare. "No." He proceeded to sit down and load his plate with British delicacies. Nico managed another bite of bagel, thinking about some way to make sure Leo was alive. "All I can do is wait," he muttered. "Wait, and hope this works."

"Hope _w__hat _works?" Harry asked, the evil presence inside him rearing up like a snake. Nico wondered if he had enhanced hearing or something, along with superb annoying-Nico skills.

"Nothing. Just some news about a friend of mine." He gulped down his orange juice, and stood up. Ambra flapped down from one of the rafters under the ceiling (which was blue with white clouds) and landed on Nico's shoulder. She cooked her head like, _Have you got food? Food? Anything? _Not finding food, she let out a disappointed caw.

"You had food, Ambra," Nico said. "I _saw _you, girl. In fact, you probably ate more than I did." Nico scratched the rough feathers under Ambra's chin. Nico walked away, checking his schedule. First class: _Divination; Sybill Trelawney. North Tower. _Apparently the teachers had signed him up for electives (which were supposedly voluntary classes) without his permission. Oh, well. Maybe he'd learn something. Even so, Nico didn't need any more chaos in his life. He didn't even know what Divination was, although he'd heard the word before; he just hadn't bothered to memorize its meaning.

Somehow, Nico found the North Tower without getting lost. However, there was a small problem: the North Tower lacked a normal door. Instead, there was a trapdoor with no handle. Since Nico had arrived early, he decided to wait for the rest of class to arrive.

Ambra pecked at Nico's hair. A moment later, she cawed. Nico looked up from his schedule, which was in English and therefore, nearly impossible to read. Nico could sense it before he saw it: Harry Potter and his friends were in this class. Nico stifled a groan. _Seriously? Dumbledore actually gave me the same schedule as Harry? _Seriously_? _Harry seemed to be thinking the same thing.

Meanwhile, the trapdoor had opened of its own accord, revealing a silver ladder. Upon entering the classroom, Nico thought it looked more like a teahouse or the Oracle's cave at Camp Half-Blood than a classroom. Cushions and armchairs dotted the room, and instead of desks, there were small round tables. There was also a fireplace, and in front of it, a winged armchair. A heavy, sweet perfume filled the room, making Nico feel sleepy; shelves around the room were filled with all kinds of items: tattered decks of cards, ornate china cups and teapots, crystal balls.

Before Nico could begin to wonder what the strange objects were, a voice spoke from the corner of the room: "Welcome," it said, misty and mysterious. "How nice to see you in the physical world at last.

A woman stepped out of the shadows; Nico assumed she was Professor Trelawney. She was very thin; many chain and bead necklaces hung around her neck, and her hands and arms had enough bracelets to make even the Aphrodite campers cringe. Professor Trelawney also wore a spangled shawl, and her large glasses magnified her eyes so she looked like some odd sparkly insect.

"Sit, my children, sit," she said. Nico was _not _her child. The class hesitantly clambered into armchairs or cushions. Nico, of course, ended up at the same table as Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"Welcome to Divination," said Professor Trelawney, who sat in the winged armchair, directly in front of the fireplace. "My name is Professor Trelawney. You may not have seen me before. I find that descending too often into the hustle and bustle of the main school clouds my Inner Eye. So you have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts. I must warn you at the outset that if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you. Books can take you only so far in this field. . . ."

Harry and Ron turned to smirk at Hermione. Nico glanced over; she looked extremely started at Professor Trelawney's statement. Nico figured she must like books.

"Many witches and wizards, talented though they are in the area of loud bangs and smells and sudden disappearings, are yet unable to penetrate the veiled mysteries of the future," Professor Trelawney went on, as Nico began to realize what exactly Divination was. Oh gods, no... "It is a Gift granted to few. You, boy," Professor Trelawney snapped at Neville. "Is your grandmother well?"

Neville glanced around nervously. "I think so..."

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you, dear," said Professor Trelawney, the firelight glinting on her long emerald earrings. Neville gulped. Professor Trelawney continued: "We will be covering the basic methods of Divination this year. The first term will be devoted to reading the tea leaves. Next term we shall progress to palmistry. By the way, my dear," she shot suddenly at a girl with dark hair, "beware a red-haired man."

The girl glanced at Ron, then scooted away. Nico, meanwhile, was trying not to have a panic attack. Divination. Predicting the future. _Prophecies. _"Oh no," Nico said to himself. "No, no, _no. _Not this. Not again."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione gave Nico some odd looks. Nico figured he must have looked pretty weird; his pale hands clasped the sides of his armchair and he probably looked terrified. Nico assumed a calm expression and forced himself to relax.

Professor Trelawney continued he dramatic speech, and then gave instructions: get your tea, drink it, study the dregs. Simple.

Nico followed the others and got his teapot filled with steaming hot liquid. The four then went back to their table and started drinking their tea. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked surprised at how hot the tea was, but Nico drank it easily. When you've drank from the river Phlegethon in Tartarus, hot tea was no biggie.

"Right," said Ron as they all opened their books at pages five and six. "What can you see in mine?"

"A load of soggy brown stuff," said Harry. Nico had to agree with him there; Ron's teacup was filled with what indeed looked like a lot of soggy brown stuff.

"Broaden your minds, my dears, and allow your eyes to see past the mundane!" Professor Trelawney cried through the gloom. Nico felt that he did not need to see past the mundane any more than he already could; he'd seen enough to last him a lifetime. And a deathtime as well. Or afterlifetime. Whatever.

Harry cleared his throat and continued: "Right, you've got a crooked sort of cross . . ." He consulted Unfogging the Future, and Nico attempted to read his copy, with little sucess. "That means you're going to have 'trials and suffering' — sorry about that — but there's a thing that could be the sun . . . hang on . . . that means 'great happiness' . . . so you're going to suffer but be very happy. . . ."

"You need your Inner Eye tested, if you ask me," said Ron, and they both had to stifle their laughs as Professor Trelawney gazed in their direction.

"My turn . . ." Ron peered into Harry's teacup, his forehead wrinkled with effort. "There's a blob a bit like a bowler hat," he said. "Maybe you're going to work for the Ministry of Magic. . . ." He turned the teacup the other way up. "But this way it looks more like an acorn. . . . What's that?" He scanned his copy of Unfogging the Future. "'A windfall, unexpected gold.' Excellent, you can lend me some . . . and there's a thing here," he turned the cup again, "that looks like an animal . . . yeah, if that was its head . . . it looks like a hippo . . . no, a sheep . . ."

Nico looked on, amused. If _this _was the extent of wizarding Divination, he would probably be fine. Or...not.

Professor Trelawney whirled around as Harry let out a snort of laughter. "Let me see that, my dear," she said reprovingly to Ron, sweeping over and snatching Harry's cup from him. Everyone went quiet to watch. Professor Trelawney was staring into the teacup, rotating it counterclockwise. "The falcon . . . my dear, you have a deadly enemy."

"But everyone knows that," said Hermione in a loud whisper. Professor Trelawney stared at her. "Well, they do," said Hermione. "Everybody knows about Harry and You-Know-Who."

Harry and Ron stared at her with a mixture of amazement and admiration. Nico wondered, for the hundredth time, who "You-Know-Who" was.

Professor Trelawney chose not to reply. She lowered her huge eyes to Harry's cup again and continued to turn it. "The club . . . an attack. Dear, dear, this is not a happy cup. . . ."

"I thought that was a bowler hat," said Ron sheepishly.

"The skull . . . danger in your path, my dear. . . ." Nico watched warily. This class was taking a turn for the worst...Professor Trelawney turned the cup again, gasped, and screamed. There was another tinkle of breaking china; Neville had smashed his second cup. Professor Trelawney sank into a vacant armchair, her glittering hand at her heart and her eyes closed. "My dear boy . . . my poor, dear boy . . . no . . . it is kinder not to say . . . no . . . don't ask me. . . ."

"What is it, Professor?" said one of the Gryffindor boys in Nico's dormitory. Everyone had got to their feet, and slowly they crowded around Nico's table, pressing close to Professor Trelawney's chair to get a good look at Harry's cup; Nico stiffened. He did like so many new people crowding around him.

"My dear," Professor Trelawney's huge eyes opened dramatically, "you have the Grim."

"The what?" said Harry. Nico was confused, but nearly everybody else clapped their hands to their mouths in horror.

"The Grim, my dear, the Grim!" cried Professor Trelawney, who looked shocked that Harry hadn't understood. "The giant, spectral dog that haunts churchyards! My dear boy, it is an omen — the worst omen — of death!" Everyone was looking at Harry, everyone except Hermione, who had gotten up and moved around to the back of Professor Trelawney's chair.

"I don't think it looks like a Grim," she said flatly.

Professor Trelawney surveyed Hermione with mounting dislike. "You'll forgive me for saying so, my dear, but I perceive very little aura around you. Very little receptivity to the resonances of the future."

Another boy from Nico's dormitory was tilting his head from side to side. "It looks like a Grim if you do this," he said, with his eyes almost shut, "but it looks more like a donkey from here," he said, leaning to the left.

"When you've all finished deciding whether I'm going to die or not!" said Harry, taking everyone by surprise. For once, Nico agreed with Harry. Why was the future so full of death _all the time?_

"I think we will leave the lesson here for today," said Professor Trelawney in her mistiest voice. "Yes . . . please pack away your things. . . ." Silently the class took their teacups back to Professor Trelawney, packed away their books, and closed their bags. Even Ron was avoiding Harry's eyes. "Until we meet again," said Professor Trelawney faintly, "fair fortune be yours. Oh, and dear" — she pointed at Neville — "you'll be late next time, so mind you work extra-hard to catch up."

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Nico descended Professor Trelawney's ladder and the winding stair in silence, then set off for Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration lesson.

It took Nico so long to find her classroom, even walking with the more experienced students, that Nico was barely on time. Harry and Nico both chose seats right at the back of the room; the rest of the class kept shooting furtive glances at Harry, as though he were about to drop dead at any moment.

Professor McGonagall surveyed the class. "Mr. di Angelo," she said, "why aren't you wearing your uniform?"

"Um..." Nico started. "I..."

Professor McGonagall stared down her nose. "I won't say anything more this time, but please refrain from not following the dress code in the future," she said, before beginning her lesson.

Nico had zoned out; he didn't hear Professor McGonagall's explanation of Animagi, and didn't even look up when his professor transformed into a tabby cat. Besides, Frank Zhang could turn into all kinds of animals, most more impressive than a tabby cat.

"Really, what has got into you all today?" said Professor McGonagall, turning back into herself with a faint pop, and staring around at them all. "Not that it matters, but that's the first time my transformation's not got applause from a class."

Everybody's heads turned toward Harry again, but nobody spoke. Then Hermione raised her hand. "Please, Professor, we've just had our first Divination class, and we were reading the tea leaves, and —"

"Ah, of course," said Professor McGonagall, suddenly frowning. "There is no need to say any more, Miss Granger. Tell me, which of you will be dying this year?" Everyone stared at her.

"Me," said Harry, finally.

"I see," said Professor McGonagall, fixing Harry with her beady eyes. "Then you should know, Potter, that Sybill Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them has died yet. Seeing death omens is her favorite way of greeting a new class. If it were not for the fact that I never speak ill of my colleagues —" Professor McGonagall broke off, and they saw that her nostrils had gone white. She went on, more calmly, "Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic. I shall not conceal from you that I have very little patience with it. True Seers are very rare, and Professor Trelawney —" She stopped again, and then said, in a very matter-of-fact tone, "You look in excellent health to me, Potter, so you will excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in."

Hermione laughed. Being frightened of soggy brown stuff was harder to pull off, away from Professor Trelawney's classroom with its fumes and dim red light. Nico still wasn't certain, though. As he'd told Hazel, he knew there would be death—and soon. Nico wasn't the only one. Ron still looked worried, and the girl with curly brown hair from Divination whispered, "But what about Neville's cup?"

After class, Nico's companions headed towards the Great Hall, Nico himself trailing along behind them.

"Ron, cheer up," said Hermione, pushing a dish of stew toward him. "You heard what Professor McGonagall said." Ron spooned stew onto his plate and picked up his fork but didn't start.

"Harry," he said, in a low, serious voice, "you haven't seen a great black dog anywhere, have you?"

"Yeah, I have," said Harry. "I saw one the night I left the Dursleys'."

Ron let his fork fall with a clatter.

"Probably a stray," said Hermione calmly.

Ron looked at Hermione as though she had gone mad. "Hermione, if Harry's seen a Grim, that's — that's bad," he said. "My — my uncle Bilius saw one and — and he died twenty-four hours later!"

"Coincidence," said Hermione airily, pouring herself some pumpkin juice.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" said Ron, starting to get angry. "Grims scare the living daylights out of most wizards!"

"There you are, then," said Hermione in a superior tone. "They see the Grim and die of fright. The Grim's not an omen, it's the cause of death! And Harry's still with us because he's not stupid enough to see one and think, right, well, I'd better kick the bucket then!"

Nico cleared his throat. "She does have a point, Ron," he said, folding his hands. "Most death omens aren't genuine. How many black dogs do you think there are? Most of them are just dogs."

Ron glared at Nico, then at Hermione, who opened her bag, took out her new Arithmancy book, and propped it open against the juice jug. "I think Divination seems very woolly," she said, searching for her page. "A lot of guesswork, if you ask me."

"There was nothing woolly about the Grim in that cup!" said Ron hotly. Turning on Nico, he added: "And how do _you _know about death omens? Did you send that Grim!?"

"You didn't seem quite so confident when you were telling Harry it was a sheep," said Hermione coolly. "Nico may be right."

Nico, meanwhile, glared at Ron. "I know about death omens because of—actually...I'd rather not say. It doesn't have anything to do with you."

"YES IT IS, IF IT HAS TO DO WITH HARRY! And you—" he turned on Hermione—" Professor Trelawney said you didn't have the right aura! You just don't like being bad at something for a change! And why do you keep defending _Nico_ of all people?! He doesn't even belong here!" He had touched a nerve. Two, actually.

Hermione slammed her Arithmancy book down on the table so hard that bits of meat and carrot flew everywhere. "If being good at Divination means I have to pretend to see death omens in a lump of tea leaves, I'm not sure I'll be studying it much longer! That lesson was absolute rubbish compared with my Arithmancy class!" She snatched up her bag and stalked away.

Ron frowned after her. "What's she talking about?" he said to Harry. "She hasn't been to an Arithmancy class yet."

That was true, Nico thought. Then how, and why, did Hermione know about her Arithmancy class? Nico shrugged it off, before storming after Hermione.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

After lunch, Nico walked beside Harry, Ron, and Hermione, silent, as they went down the sloping lawns to Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He'd stomped around the castle's corridors, avoiding the ghosts until one informed him that class would start in five minutes.

Nico spotted some of the Slytherins. A boy with a face like a ferret and pale blond hair was talking animatedly to a pair of hulking Slytherins who looked like trolls: big and stupid.

Hagrid was waiting for his class at the door of his hut. He stood in his moleskin overcoat, with a black boarhound at his heels, looking impatient to start. "C'mon, now, get a move on!" he called as the class approached. "Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"

Nico was fairly certain that Hagrid wasn't completely human; he was either part monster or part giant. Nico warily decided to keep his distance as Hagrid led them around the edge of the forest until they'd reached a large pen with nothing in it. "Everyone gather 'round the fence here!" he called. "That's it — make sure yeh can see — now, firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books —"

"How?" said the cold, drawling voice of the blond boy.

"Eh?" said Hagrid.

"How do we open our books?" the blonde repeated. He took out his copy of The Monster Book of Monsters, which he had bound shut with a length of rope. Other people took theirs out too; some had belted their book shut; others had crammed them inside tight bags or clamped them together with binder clips.

"Hasn' — hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?" said Hagrid, looking crestfallen. The class all shook their heads. "Yeh've got ter stroke 'em," said Hagrid, as though this was the most obvious thing in the world. "Look —" He took Hermione's copy and ripped off the Spellotape that bound it. The book tried to bite, but Hagrid ran a giant forefinger down its spine, and the book shivered, and then fell open and lay quiet in his hand.

"Oh, how silly we've all been!" The Slytherin sneered. "We should have stroked them! Why didn't we guess!"

"I — I thought they were funny," Hagrid said uncertainly to Hermione.

"Oh, tremendously funny!" said the blonde. "Really witty, giving us books that try and rip our hands off!"

"Shut up, Malfoy," said Harry quietly. Nico filed away the information: the boy's name was Malfoy, he was a jerk, and Harry hated him. Harry at least wasn't as much of a jerk as Malfoy.

Hagrid was looking downcast. "Righ' then," he said, seeming to have lost his thread, "so — so yeh've got yer books an' — an' — now yeh need the Magical Creatures. Yeah. So I'll go an' get 'em. Hang on . . ." He strode away from them into the forest and out of sight. Nico hoped the "Magical Creatures" didn't like demigods—as lunch.

"God, this place is going to the dogs," said Malfoy loudly. "That oaf teaching classes, my father'll have a fit when I tell him —"

"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry repeated.

"Careful, Potter, there's a dementor behind you —" Malfoy noticed Nico. His gray eyes glittered. "And _you're _the new student," he said. "You passed it on the train too?"

Nico glared at him, and Malfoy changed course.

"So, you hate Potter here as well?" He said, offering his hand. "Draco Malfoy," he said.

"Nico di Angelo," Nico said coldly, not returning Malfoy's handshake.

Malloy looked a touch uncertain. "You don't want to go making friends with the _wrong _sort," he said. "I can help you there."

Nico glared at Malfoy some more. _The wrong sort. _Those three words described Nico quite perfectly, which made him angry. "I will _never _be friends with you," he said coldly. "I already have friends. Which is probably more than _you _could say."

Malloy opened his mouth, but before he could continue what was turning into a roasting session of "Your mama's" and the likes, the girl from divination with the brown hair squealed. "Oooooooh!" She pointed toward the opposite side of the paddock.

Some decidedly dangerous creatures were approaching: their bodies and hind quarters were that of horses, but their front legs, beads, and wings of eagles-dangerous looking birds with sharp beaks and talons. Nico instinctively prepared to draw his sword.

The creatures had a thick collar each, and Hagrid held all the chains, urging the creatures towards the class, where only a flimsy wooden fence would stand between Nico and whatever those were. "Hippogriffs!" Hagrid roared happily, waving a hand at them. "Beau'iful, aren' they?"

Nico could sort of see that—the hippogriffs had smooth coats that shifted smoothly from feathers to fine fur, ranging from stormy gray to gleaming chestnut to darkest black. Not that Nico could appreciate this—he'd faced plenty of beautiful monsters and had become somewhat immune to the effect.

"So," said Hagrid, rubbing his hands together and beaming around, "if yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer —" No one seemed to want to. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, however, approached the fence cautiously, Nico reluctantly following—mostly to keep Harry out of trouble. Maybe if he saved the "Boy Who Lived" he'd be allowed to return to camp. Or at least, to America.

"Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' hippogriffs is, they're proud," said Hagrid. "Easily offended, hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do."

The Slytherins didn't seem to be listening; Nico had a feeling they were plotting revenge on him.

"Yeh always wait fer the hippogriff ter make the firs' move," Hagrid continued. "It's polite, see? Yeh walk toward him, and yeh bow, an' yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed ter touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away from him sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt.

"Right — who wants ter go first?" The students backed off as the hippogriffs tossed their heads and flapped their wings, pawing at the ground like a horse would.

"No one?" said Hagrid, with a pleading look.

"Come on," Malfoy said, looking directly at Nico and Harry. "Surely someone here is _brave _enough to go near those...hippogriffs."

"I'll do it," said Nico. He knew that was exactly what Malfoy wanted, but even so, Nico did _not _want to look weak. Also, if anything happened, he'd know how to defend himself—Nico had faced worse.

"Alright, Nico," Hagrid said. "Right then—let's see how yeh get along with Buckbeak." He untied a gray hippogriff and led it closer to Nico. Malfoy watched eagerly. Nico glared at him before turning his gaze on Buckbeak.

"Easy, now, Nico," said Hagrid quietly. "Yeh've got eye contact, now try not ter blink. . . . Hippogriffs don' trust yeh if yeh blink too much. . . ."

Nico kept his eyes open and watched the hippogriff, who turned his head sharply and eyed Nico with one of his orange eyes, sizing him up. "Tha's it," said Hagrid. "Tha's it, Nico . . . now, bow . . ."

Nico didn't want to expose the back of his neck to Buckbeak—Demigod Rules 101-but he did as he was told, for once. Nico gave a short bow and then looked up. The hippogriff was still staring haughtily at him. He didn't move.

"Ah," said Hagrid, sounding worried. "Right — back away, now, easy does it —" But then, to Nico's surprise, Buckbeak sank into what was an unmistakable bow, still looking at Nico.

"Well done!" Hagrid said enthusiastically, before adding: "Right—yeh can touch him! Pay his beak, go on!" Nico wasn't very happy with this arrangement; animals hated being touched by him. Even so, he patted Buckbeak's beak several times; and the hippogriff closed his eyes lazily, like Ambra did sometimes. The Gryffindors broke into applause; although the Slytherins held back.

"Righ' then, Nico," said Hagrid. "I reckon he might' let yeh ride him!"

This was more than Nico had expected. Zeus didn't like sons of Hades or Poseidon flying. Nico did not want to be blasted to bits, thank you very much. But there was no stopping Hagrid.

"Yeh climb up there, jus' behind the wing joint," said Hagrid, "an' mind yeh don' pull any of his feathers out, he won' like that. . . ." Nico followed Hagrid's instructions and reluctantly mounted the hippogriff; he didn't know where he was supposed to hold on as Buckbeak's neck was covered in feathers.

"Go on, then!" Hagrid said, slapping Buckbeak's hindquarters. Buckbeak snapped his wings open and leaped into the air; Nico barely had time to hold on. Buckbeak's wings beat on either side of Nico; almost tossing him off; and the rocking of the hippogriff's hindquarters made Nico think he might be sick. Nico silently prayed to Zeus the entire time; and barely held on during Buckbeak's landing.

"Good work!" roared Hagrid as the Gryffindors cheered. "Okay, who else wants a go?" Less afraid now, the other students entered the paddock; and waited while Hagrid released each hippogriff. Ron and Hermione practiced on a chestnut one; Harry got Buckbeak, who responded just as well to him as he had to Nico—probably better, in fact.

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle took over Buckbeak, after Harry was done. He bowed to Malfoy, which surprised Nico—he figured Buckbeak only liked _decent_ people—although Harry didn't quite fit that description. (Neither did Nico, in his opinion.)

Malfoy was now patting Buckbeak condescendingly. "This is very easy," he said, so Nico could hear. "I knew it must have been, if Potter and di Angelo could do it...I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" he asked Buckbeak. "Are you, you great ugly brute?"

Buckbeak reared and slashed his talons; Malfoy screamed, and Hagrid rushed over, restraining Buckbeak even as he pulled and snapped his beak at Malfoy. The latter was curled in the grass, and proceeded to yell: "I'm dying! I'm dying, look at me! It's killed me!"

"Yer not dyin'!" Hagrid said, panicked. "Someone help me—gotta get him outta here—" Hermione ran and held the gate open as Hagrid and Malfoy passed. Malfoy had a long, deep gash on his arm; although Nico had gotten worse before.

The Slytherins were all shouting about Hagrid. "They should fire him straight away!" said one girl, who was in tears.

"It was Malfoy's fault!" snapped Dean Thomas. Malloy's two "friends" flexed their muscles threateningly. They all climbed the stone steps into the deserted entrance hall.

"I'm going to see if he's okay!" said the girl, and they all watched her run up the marble staircase. The other Slytherins, still muttering about Hagrid, headed away in the direction of their dungeon common room; Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Nico proceeded upstairs to Gryffindor Tower.

"D'you think he'll be all right?" said Hermione nervously.

"'Course he will. Madam Pomfrey can mend cuts in about a second," said Harry,

"That was a really bad thing to happen in Hagrid's first class, though, wasn't it?" said Ron, looking worried. "Trust Malfoy to mess things up for him. . . ."

They were among the first to reach the Great Hall at dinnertime, hoping to see Hagrid, but he wasn't there.

"They wouldn't fire him, would they?" said Hermione anxiously, not touching her steak-and-kidney pudding.

"They'd better not," said Ron, who wasn't eating either.

Nico and Harry were watching the Slytherin table. A large group including Malfoy's friends was huddled together, deep in conversation. Nico was sure they were cooking up their own version of how Malfoy had been injured.

"Well, you can't say it wasn't an interesting first day back," said Ron gloomily. They went up to the crowded Gryffindor common room after dinner and tried to do the homework Professor McGonagall had given them, but all four of them kept breaking off and glancing out of the tower window. Nico still could barely reading his textbook.

"There's a light on in Hagrid's window," Harry said suddenly. Ron looked at his watch. "If we hurried, we could go down and see him. It's still quite early. . . ."

"I don't know," Hermione said slowly, and Nico saw her glance at Harry.

"I'm allowed to walk across the grounds," Harry said pointedly. "Sirius Black hasn't got past the dementors here, has he?"

So they put their things away and headed out of the portrait hole. Nico stayed behind, staring at his homework. _An interesting day. _Ron was certainly right about _that._

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

Nico was sitting in Potions class, attempting to get his wizard's robes untangled. He'd developed a compromise—it had two days since he'd first arrived—two long, agonizing days. Nico hated wearing full uniform, so he'd started wearing his robes over his typical outfit of a black t-shirt and black jeans. Professor McGonagall had raised an eyebrow at him, but hadn't said anything, fortunately.

Snape was about to call attendance when Draco Malfoy walked in, acting as though he'd just saved the world. A Slytherin girl asked, "How is it, Draco? Does it hurt much?"

"Yeah," Malfoy replied, assuming a brave face, then winking at Crabbe and Goyle once the girl had looked away.

"Settle down, settle down," Professor Snape said. Nico already disliked Snape; he seemed like the type of teacher who played favorites. Nico was soon proven right.

After Professor Snape magicked the instructions onto the board, Malfoy set up his cauldron right next to Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Nick's cluster of tables. And his reason for doing this made Nico want to punch him in the nose.

"Sir," Malfoy started, "I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots, because of my arm—"

"Weasley, cut up Malfoy's roots for him," Snape said, not even bothering to look up.

"There's nothing wrong with your arm," Ron hissed at Malfoy as he began cutting up his roots.

Malfoy smirked. "Weasley, you heard Professor Snape, cut up these roots."

A while later, Malfoy drawled: "Professor, Wesley's mutilating my roots, sir."

Snape studied the roots, which were in uneven pieces, chopped roughly and not at all carefully. "Change roots with Malfoy, Weasley."

"But sir—!" Ron's roots were in perfectly even pieces; he'd spent the last half an hour cutting them.

"_Now,_" Snape said.

When Snape looked away, Nico shoved his own roots at Draco. He didn't particularly care about his potion, and he wasn't going to let Malfoy get away with this.

Malfoy raised his eyebrows before saying, "And, sir, I'll need this shrivelfig skinned. And these catapillers chopped."

Snape surveyed the scene—Malfoy with Nico's roots, Ron with his own, and Nico with Malfoy's. His dark eyes burned. "Di Angelo, skin Malfoy's shrivelfig _and _cut his catapillers. Potter, measure and pour Malfoy's leech juice."

Nico fumed with anger, but he did as Professor Snape said, and prepared Malfoy's potion ingredients for him—doing as bad a job as was marginally acceptable. Malfoy smirked at Harry, his gray eyes glittering maliciously. "Seen your pal Hagrid lately?"

"None of your business," Ron said angrily.

"I'm afraid he won't be a teacher much longer," Malfoy went on. "Father's not very happy about my injury—"

"Keep talking, Malfoy, and I'll give you a real injury," snarled Ron.

Nico glared at Malfoy. "What he said," he added.

Malfoy ignored them. "—he's gained to the school governors. _And _to the Ministry of Magic. Father's got a lot of influence, you know. And a lasting injury like this—" —he gave a fake sigh— "who knows if my arm'll ever be the same again?"

Nico glared at Malfoy some more. The little brat thought _his _father had influence—

Meanwhile, Harry beheaded his caterpillar. "So that's why you're putting it on. To try and get Hagrid fired."

"Well," said Malfoy, "_partly, _Potter. But there are other benefits as well. Weasley, slice my rat spleen for me."

Meanwhile, Neville Longbottom wasn't doing so well either, sitting next to Hermione. "Orange, Longbottom," Snape said as he scooped some up and let it fall back into the cauldron, so everyone could see. "Orange. Tell me, boy, does anything ever penetrate that thick skull of yours? Didn't you hear me say, quite clearly, that only one rat spleen was needed? Didn't I state plainly that a dash of leech juice would suffice? What do I have to do to make you understand, Longbottom?"

Neville was on the verge of tears as Hermione said, "Please, sir, please, I could help Neville put it right-"

"I don't remember asking you to show off, Miss Granger." Turning to Neville, Snape added: "Longbottom, at the end of this lesson, we will feed a few drops of this potion to your toad and see what happens. Perhaps that will encourage you to do it properly."

Nico was furious. Snape couldn't go around doing that—he'd had a teacher like Snape at Westover Hall once, and he had _hated _that teacher. Nico and Bianca had pulled the largest prank ever seen during that class—they'd been legendary all over school for about two days before everyone forgot.

Nico was distracted when when a boy in his dormitory, Seamus Finnigan, said: "Hey Harry, have you heard? _Daily Prophet _this morning—they reckon Sirius Black's been sighted."

"Who?" Nico asked. Everyone stared.

"You don't know who _Sirius Black _is?" Malfoy asked, delighted. "He's a _murderer; _killed twelve muggles with one curse. Escaped from Azkaban too! First one ever! And Potter's probably planning to catch him single-handedly—"

"What?" Harry said. "Yeah, right."

Malfoy smiled again. "Of course, if it was me, I'd have done something before now. I wouldn't be staying in school like a good boy, I'd be out there looking for him."

"What are you talking about, Malfoy?" Ron asked angrily.

"Don't you _know, _Potter?" Malfoy asked, eyes narrowed.

"Know _what_?" Harry asked, getting tired of Malfoy's antics. Nico agreed.

Malfoy laughed, then said: "Maybe you'd rather not risk your neck. Want to leave it to the dementors, do you? But if it was me, I'd want revenge. I'd hunt him down myself."

"_What are you talking about?_" Harry asked angrily.

However, before Malfoy could respond, Snape called: "You should have finished adding your ingredients by now; this potion needs to stew before it can be drunk, so clear away while it simmers and then we'll test Longbottom's..."

The students headed to the stone basin to wash their supplies. "What did Malfoy mean?" Harry muttered to Ron, sticking his hands under the icy water. "Why would I want revenge on Black? He hasn't done anything to me—yet."

"You don't know that," Nico said darkly. "He could be working behind the scenes. If it was me, I'd—"

"_So you're working with Black, are you?_" Ron asked, whirling on Nico.

"I _never said that,_" Nico said angrily. "I was trying to _help you! _So maybe I can get out of this _stupid school _and go back to New York!"

Nico stormed back to his seat. He watched as Snape tested Neville's potion (which worked) and as Snape took points from Gryffindor, as Hermione had helped Nico. Then he was first out of the classroom, slipping down a side corridor to avoid his fellow students. This day was _not _going well.

* * *

After lunch, the class headed to their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class, with Professor Lupin. Nico, for once, entered the classroom feeling somewhat confident—he practically _lived _to "defend against the Dark arts." Or use them, in some cases. The professor wasn't present when they entered the room; the class took out their books, quills, and parchment. When Professor Lupin arrived, he smiled and said, "Good afternoon. Would you please put all your books back in your bags. Today's will be a practical lesson. You will need only your wands."

The other students seemed curious; Nico figured that practical lessons must be rare events. "Right then," Professor Lupin said, once everyone was ready. "If you'd please follow me."

On their way to wherever Professor Lupin was leading them, they ran into Peeves the Poltergeist. Nico had heard that he was michevious and a nuisance to Argus Filch, but generally respected the teachers at Hogwarts.

Apparently that wasn't the case with Professor Lupin, however. Peeves was stuffing gum into a keyhole, and completely ignored Lupin, instead mocking him. "Loony, loopy Lupin, loony, loopy Lupin, loony, loopy Lupin—"

Professor Lupin just smiled. "I'd take that gum out of that keyhole if I were you, Peeves," he said pleasantly. "Mr. Filch won't be able to get in to his brooms."

Peeves ignored Lupin, who sighed and told the class over his shoulder: "This is a useful little spell. Please watch closely." Raising his wand to shoulder height, Professor Lupin pointed it at Peeves and said: "_Waddiwasi!" _

TThe gum shot out of the keyhole and into Peeves' left nostril; he zoomed away cursing.

"Cool, sir!" said Dean Thomas.

The rest of the class seemed to agree; as Lupin said "Thank you, Dean. Shall we proceed?" the class followed with increased respect.

Lupin led them to a room with a plauqe labeled "Staffroom."

"Inside, please," Lupin said, and the class filed inside. The room was long, with paneled walls, and full of mismatched chairs.

Professor Snape was sitting in a low armchair; upon the class's entry, stood. "Leave it open," Snape said, as Lupin made to close the door. "I'd rather not witness this." Turning, he added: "Possibly no one's warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Misa Granger is hissing instructions in his ear."

Neville blushed; but Professor Lupin just raised his eyebrows and said: "I was hoping Neville would assist me in the first stage of the operation, and I am sure he will perform it admirably."

Neville blushed even more; Snape gave Lupin a look of dislike and left, shutting the door behind him.

"Now, then," Professor Lupin continued, beckoning the students toward an old wardrobe, which wobbled suddenly and banged against the wall.

"Nothing to worry about," Lupin said, as a few people jumped back, startled. "There's a Boggart in there."

The students looked apprehensive; but Nico had no idea what a Boggart was.

"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces. Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks—I've met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock." Lupin paused, then added: "_This _one moved in yesterday afternoon, and I asked the headmaster if the staff would leave it to give my third years some practice.

"So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what _is _a Boggart?"

HHermione raised she hand; when called on, she answered: "It's a shapeshifter. It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most." Nico thought about his worst fears and got a sick feeling in his stomach, as though skeletal butterflies were fluttering around down there.

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Professor Lupin said proudly. "So the Boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a Boggart looks like when he's alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us must fears."

The feeling in Nico's stomach intensified. If he was forced to reveal his darkest secret, in front of the whole class...he didn't know _what _he might do.

Professor Lupin continued: "This means that we have a huge advantage over the boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"

Harry answered awkwardly. "Er—because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape it should be?"

"Precisely," Lupin responded. "It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a boggart. He becomes confused. Which should he become, a headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a boggart who made that very mistake—tried to frighten two people at once and became a half slug. Not remotely frightening."

Nico found this knowledge somewhat relieving, but he still couldn't stop his hands from shaking a little. Nico busied himself by twisting his ring around—something he always did when he was nervous.

"The charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a boggart is _laughter._" Nico's confidence about D.A.D.A. went out the window. "What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing."

Lupin looked around before continuing: "We will practice the charm without wands first. After me, please: _riddikulus_!"

The class repeated the charm.

"Good, very good," Professor Lupin said. "But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough. And this is where you come in, Neville."

Neville looked terrified as the wardrobe shook again.

"Right, Neville. First things first: what would you say is the thing that frightens you most in the world?"

Neville's first attempt went unheard; on his second he stammered: "Professor Snape..."

Lupin looked thoughtful, then proceeded to instruct Neville to force Professor Boggart Snape into his grandmother's clothes: a tall hat with a stuffed vulture, a long green dress, a fox-fur scarf, and lastly, a large red handbag.

Lupin then said: "If Neville is successful, the boggart is likely to shift his attention to each of us in turn. I would like all of you to think of the scares you most, and imagine how you might force it to look comical..."

After a few moments, in which Nico remembered Tartarus, the bronze jar, and his incident with Cupid all too well, Professor Lupin started talking. "Neville, we're going to back away, let you have a clear field, alright? I'll call the next person forward...Everybody back now, Neville can get a clear shot—"

The students backed off against the walls as Lupin said to Neville: "On the count of three, Neville. One—two—three—_now!" _

The boggart stepped out of the wardrobe in the form of Professor Snape. "_Ri-ri-riddikulus!" _Neville squeaked. Snape stumbled, now dressed in Neville's grandmother's clothes; everyone except Nico and Harry burst out laughing.

Nico was full of dread; he knew exactly what would happen and didn't like it one bit. He'd made a silent promise to himself that _no one _would ever humiliate him like Cupid had, not ever again. Nico barely noticed as the others faced their _normal _Boggarts—a mummy, a banshee, a rat, a rattlesnake—soon, it was Ron's turn.

His Boggart was a giant spider; its legs disappeared and it rolled over and stopped at Nico's feet. The spider twitched, then became a whirl of colors and shapes. Nico could imagine a little sign over it: _loading...loading...loading... is not responding...please restart the program and try again..._

Nico clutched his wand; he stared at the Boggart, waiting, waiting, waiting...he could feel himself shaking, like when someone's so tense and full of pent-up energy that they have to do _something_ with it.

Finally, the Boggart turned into...a wall of mist. The mist surrounded Nico, like one of those virtual reality things that mortals loved. Then, it solidified into...Tartarus. Nico couldn't even see the classroom anymore; just the wasteland of the pit, all around him—he was back. But there would be no escape this time. The mist image started churning, and looking at it gave Nico nausea.

Then, the mist _actually _solidified, and Nico was back in an airtight bronze jar; except the air in the jar was Tartarus air—poisoned and menacing. Nico froze, his eyes darting around. "_Riddikulus!" _he said. But nothing happened. How could _this _be made into something amusing?

Memories flashed behind Nico's eyes—the worst ones, the ones Nico had tried to bury so deep they'd never resurface. The jar, Tartarus, turning Bryce Lawrence into a ghost—everyone terrified of him—Bianca's death, and then even before that—their mother's death, being sent to Westover...meeting Percy.

The jar disappeared, but the mist was back, forming a tornado-like formation around Nico. Vaguely, he could see the frightened faces of his classmates—_no one can ever be friends with a son of_ _Hades—_and he could hear Lupin casting spells at the Boggart, but they just deflected off the smoky-colored mist.

A column of new mist appeared directly in front of Nico and solidified into...into Cupid. The tornado thinned, just enough so that Nico couldn't escape, but everyone else could see in. Nico looked into Cupid's eyes—vivid red, like the light of Tartarus. It was a just a boggart, but Nico no longer seemed to be aware of that.

"What do you want?" Nico yelled at the figure in front of him. Somehow, his memory of Cupid seemed to overlay what was really happening—once again, Nico had one foot in the past, and one foot in the present, something he was all too familiar with.

Cupid gave Nico a cold smile. "To reveal your secrets."

The Cupid in the mist opened his hands, palms up. The mist did a strange thing—sort of flickering and snapping into a new scene. Then Nico saw himself, and Jason Grace—the Boggart was recreating the dreaded memory. The secret.

_"Nico, it's okay. I get it," Jason said._

_Nico looked at Jason, his face a mask of pain and misery. "No, you don't. There's no way you can understand."_

And so you run away again,_ Cupid chided. _From your friends, from yourself.

_"I have no friends!" Nico yelled, the truth hitting him like a sledgehammer. He'd always known it, but still, he'd hoped that maybe, just maybe...no. "I left Camp Half-Blood because I don't belong! I'll never belong!"_

_"Leave him alone Cupid," Jason tried to say. "This isn't..."_

_Nico looked down. He had to do it—it was the only way. "I—I wasn't in love with Annabeth."_

_"You were jealous of her," Jason said. "That's why you didn't want to be around her. Especially why you didn't want to be around...him. It makes total sense."_

_Had Nico's secret been that obvious all along? There was nothing left to say...except..._

_"I hated myself. I hated Percy Jackson. I had a crush on Percy. That's the truth. That's the big secret." Nico glared at Cupid. "Happy now?"  
_

The mist around the scene darkened, and everyone except Cupid disappeared. Nico glared at him, as more memories surfaced from the mist, like lost dreams in the River Styx-quickly bobbing above the surface, then disappearing just as fast as the currant raced on and on and on. Nico, saying he'd never belong. Percy, yelling that Nico was a traitor. Jason, accusing him of hiding. And Bianca... Bianca's last words to Nico, as a ghost. _You must listen to me. Holding a grudge is dangerous for a child_ of-here her voice blurred. It seemed that the Mist-Hecate's most-was helping Nico out here. _It is our fatal flaw. You have to forgive. You have to promise me this.  
_

Nico glared at Cupid—the boggart. In Ancient Greek, he said: "You aren't Cupid, or Jason, or Bianca. You aren't any of them. I am a son of Hades—no _boggart _is a match for me!" Nico forgot that he was technically supposed to use his wand. In a flash, he twisted his ring, whipped out his sword, and slashed in across the boggart's mist, which turned black and was sucked in the dark blade—a blade as dark as night, as dark as darkness itself.

The boggart was gone. Nico glared around at the class-everyone stood petrified, trying to process what in _Hades _they'd just witnessed. "Never again," Nico hissed, echoing his promise to himself. Then, he ran from the room, running, running, running—where, he didn't know. Just _away—away_ from that room, away from his classmates—he was _leaving this school. _Leaving, and never coming back, Ministry or no Ministry. _Never again._

* * *

**Harry's PoV**

Everyone stood still for a moment. Then Professor Lupin broke out of his shock. Suddenly business-like, he said: "Right, then. Everyone except you three—" he gestured at Harry, Ron, and Hermione— "to your next class. Or the libraries, or your dormitories. And...well, if you see Mr. di Angelo, you may want to...er...leave him alone."

The students filed out of the staffroom, pale and silent, like ghosts. Or the bones scattered around where Nico had stood—several pale skeletal forms had broken out of the floor, although Nico hadn't seemed to notice. The whole room had grown cold, as though a dementor had been there.

After the others had left, Lupin turned towards Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "You three: see if you can find Nico. And _try _to be civil to him," Lupin added sharply, as the trio turned to go. "I have heard you dislike him. But even so, he'll probably listen to you three more than anyone else. I'll go inform Albus of...whatever just happened. He may have some advice. In the meantime, you three _find Nico, _and make sure he comes back. And _keep him away from dementors!"  
_

The trio nodded, then headed out of the staffroom. Harry looked around. "Where do you think he went?" he asked. Harry still was trying to process what he'd just seen—he knew _way _more about Nico than he wanted to, that was certain, but at the same time, there was still so much Harry didn't know—he was just plain confused.

"Er..." Hermione said, pointing. "_That _may be a good start..."

Harry and Ron looked down...and gasped.

* * *

**Author's Notes: Over 10,000 words, oh my! LOL. G****et it? _Dam? _And yes, I made that Festus ship song up, although I may not be the only one who's done something like it. I mayyyyy have gotten too dramatic with the boggart scene—but I HATE it when a scene that should be important is underwhelming. The Blood of Olympus ending, for example. Leo actually states in Trials of Apollo that they "took down Gaea in like, forty seconds." So...yeah. I hope you enjoyed this! Please review! **


	6. Follow the Bones

**Rising from Shadowed Ashes**

**GreenCrystal19**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Heroes of Olympus; they belong to respective authors; J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan. Cover art by Viktoria Ridzel (Viria/viria13/vika) as usual. Her art is amazing; she is now the official portrait artist.**

* * *

**Author's Notes: So I mayyyyy have gotten too dramatic**** with the boggart. But in stories, a good tip is: think of as many ways as possible to add trouble, drama, and tension to a plotline. Yay. Review time!  
**

**ALSO: SORRY. I MESSED UP ON THE FIRST VERSION OF THIS CHAPTER. IT WOULD COMPLICATE THINGS TOO MUCH. SOMETHING LIKE IT WILL HAPPEN LATER, THOUGH.**

**To whoever said that it was weird about how the boggart thing was A) in front of the class and B) required. (The review disappeared; I can't see it. I accepted it though...? It should be there...?) _True dat. _Pottermore had an article that went something like this: Moving staircases with dangerous trick steps? Dangerous three headed dogs? Teachers being Voldemort in disguise? Werewolf teachers? Teachers who wear pink and torture students? Dementors at the gates? _Eh. Sounds safe to me!_**

**Hogwarts has some safety issues. And some common sense issues.**

**Also thanks to whoever said they liked the long chapters—I like writing them. Although I REALLY have to work on my "real" book at some point...**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Follow the Bones**

**Nico's PoV**

_Never again, _Nico thought to himself, as he stormed down the corridors. He just wanted to get away, maybe find somewhere in the castle where he could lie low for a couple days. Or weeks. Maybe the whole school year. Arriving at the Gryffindor common room, Nico spent a few moments grabbing his bags as Ambra eyed him nervously, hopping from one foot to another. She cocked her head, appearing concerned. Nico glanced up. "I'm leaving," he said. "Are you coming with me or not?"

Ambra looked at Nico, then at the door, torn. Nico rolled his eyes, grabbed his backpack and school bag, and shadow traveled to an empty corridor.

Ambra had not followed—that was fine. Nico didn't need a wizard bird for hiding in a classroom, even though he would miss the raven. And Nico wasn't going to force her to—she'd probably come along later. Tired from shadow traveling, Nico decided to find the first out-of-the-way room he could and set up camp.

And if the anyone came after him...well, it wouldn't be a good day for them.

* * *

**Harry's PoV**

Bones. They were everywhere—scattered around the floor, hanging off the torch scones. The walls of the corridor had little spider-webs of cracks, and small tendrils of darkness surrounded the bones. The shadows below the torches were doing weird things too—twisting around as though they wanted to go somewhere...or follow something.

That something was obviously Nico.

Harry stared at the trail of bones and darkness. "Should we...er...follow him?" he asked.

Hermione looked nervous about it, but she nodded. "We have to," she said. "Professor Lupin said so."

"Follow the bones," Ron added. "First spiders, now bones."

Behind Hermione's back, Ron looked at Harry and rolled his eyes; Harry nodded, agreeing. Why was Hermione even _trying _to be nice to Nico? He hadn't done anything to deserve their friendship; quite the opposite, in fact.

Ron shrugged and followed Hermione. Harry, more hesitant, followed. The trio walked along, and followed the bones.

* * *

The trail dead-ended in Harry's dormitory, the one that the third-years shared. Nico's stuff was gone. "How are we going to find him _now?_" Hermione asked worriedly. "If we go back to Professor Lupin and say that we couldn't find-"

"_Caw!" _Nico's bird—a raven, Harry believed—was hopping around on the tops of the four-poster beds, cawing urgently. She flew to the window and looked at them.

"Are you trying to help us find Nico?" Hermione asked.

"Nico!" the raven said in a loud, raspy voice.

_That thing TALKS?! _Harry thought to himself. A moment later, Ron echoed his thoughts. "Nico's bird _talks? _None of the owls talk! Scabbers doesn't talk! And speaking of Scabbers, Hermione, _your cat _tried to eat him this morning!" Suddenly panicked, Ron checked his bag and sighed in relief when he saw that Scabbers was there. "Thank Merlin."

Meanwhile, Hermione had walked to the window and opened it, and Amy—no, _Ambra—_flapped out and hovered outside the window. "Where's Nico?"

The raven flew out of the dormitory, obviously leading them to wherever Nico had gone. Harry grabbed his invisibility cloak; he flung it over Ron and Hermione, and the trio, once again, was on a mission that might get them killed—or worse, _expelled. _

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

Nico was making good time. He'd already found a nice, empty classroom tucked away on the forth floor—no one could find him there! His plan was to just hang out there—for fun, he'd sneak around at night and explore the castle, IM Hazel and Will, and maybe Jason, and...well, he may also be reduced to playing some good ol' Mythomagic.

Suddenly, Harry, Ron, and Hermione appeared in the doorway. Nico hadn't even sensed Harry's approach, which was odd. Even so, Nico was so surprised that he whirled, alarmed, and drew his sword before he realized who it was. Which didn't particularly make him want to sheaf his sword.

"What do you want?" Nico spat. "Isn't knowing my worst fears enough for you? Or are you here to badger me about what all that meant? Because if you are, the answer is _no. _I—"

Hermione cut him off, which annoyed Nico. "No! We're here because Professor Lupin told us to find you and bring you back!"

Nico snorted. "Ha. Like I'd go back there just to be interrogated by some wizard! I'm _leaving! _Right now! And I am _never _coming back!"

Ron glared at Nico. "You're not going anywhere, not after what you nearly did to Harry!"

Harry nodded. "You need to talk to Dumbledore! Professor Lupin said so! Without him, you'd probably be dead; you owe him that, at least!"

Nico winced inwardly. He didn't like bing in debt to anyone. It created _complications. _Pushing that thought aside, Nico gave Harry, Ron, and Hermione a cold, creepy smile. "Try to stop me. I _dare _you."

He turned away. "I'm _not _going back. That class was a disaster! What's next? Just stay away from me, for once!"

Nico grabbed all his stuff and ran.

* * *

**Harry's PoV**

They chased after Nico, but he'd just disappeared—who knew where he'd gone? Luckily, Ambra hadn't ditched them. She led them towards the main gates of Hogwarts—that wasn't good. Harry knew the dementors would be there. However, Nico's bird was smarter than she looked—Ambra had somehow gotten the dementors to leave their posts. Probably by cawing insults at them.

Ambra proceeded to fly all the way to Hogsmeade, and then, to the Shrieking Shack. Harry had a bad feeling about where this was going.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

Nico had found a good spot. He'd shadow traveled randomly, just poking around for a good hiding spot, and ended up in a large but somewhat dusty four poster bed. His sword lay at his side; Nico grabbed it and put it into ring form again. Better safe than sorry.

His backpack and schoolbag were also there; although Ambra was still missing. Nico had noticed her helping the others; he was annoyed about that—even his _bird _wouldn't leave him alone.

Two shadow jumps in one night, plus a boggart, before he'd recovered from the Athena Parthenon and Tartarus, let alone the past dementor incident—it had been a long day, and Nico was tired.

He flopped back down on the bed and studied the ceiling, wondering where in Hades he was. Around half an hour later, Nico heard footsteps—and they weren't human. Nico sat up abruptly as a large, shaggy black dog with pointed ears bounded into the room. When the dog saw Nico he paused, tilted his head to one side, and whined.

Nico stared at him. "First a raven. Then a hippogriff. Now you. Why do all the animals around here actually _like _me?" Nico asked, partly to himself and partly to the dog, as he flopped back onto the bed. "Wizards are weird."

The dog cocked his head again, before cautiously walking over and jumping up on the bed. Seemingly concerned, he sniffed at Nico's face before proceeding to sniff at Nico's ring, backpack, and schoolbag. Nico smiled against himself. "I think I'll call you Snuffles," he said, "since that's all you do. You snuffle. At literally everything."

Snuffles opened his mouth and grinned as though laughing, before curling up on the bed next to Nico, his snout pointed towards the door, as though keeping watch. Nico didn't really think about it, but he started telling the dog about his day. As he got around to mentioning Professor Snape, the dog growled; and when Nico mentioned Neville's boggart, the dog started panting again, as though laughing.

When Nico mentioned his own boggart, Snuffles actually seemed concerned—he thrust his cold, wet nose under Nico's hand, then stuck his whole head under there. Nico smiled again and scratched Snuffles behind his ears, like he did for Mrs. O'Leary.

"I don't really know how to explain this to a dog," Nico said, "but I have a _really _complicated story. It started when I was ten..." And so Nico began explaining his life to a dog. He told Snuffles about how scared he'd been—it felt nice to vent; Nico hadn't even told this to Hazel.

When he finished, Snuffles looked downright confused.

"Um...do you understand English?"

After a moment's pause, Snuffles nodded.

"Oh-kayyyy, then..." Nico said to himself, a bit embarrassed. "What else is new?"

Snuffles made a little sound before curling up again, and Nico took off his wizard's robes and wadded them into a pillow of sorts (he didn't trust the dusty ones) and before he knew it, Nico was asleep again.

* * *

**Harry's PoV**

Getting into the Shrieking Shack was hard. There seemed to be no easily accessible door—which was weird.

Finally, after Hermione had found a gap between the ground and the walls, they emerged into a room full of dust and broken furniture. No one was there; but there were several doors and a dusty staircase. Hermione nodded at the staircase; human and dog paw prints both made marks in the dust. It seemed that a dog had walked up, and a human had walked down. Odd.

In any case, the trio walked up the stairs; they were trying to be quiet, but the stairs creaked every three seconds. At the top of the stairs, they found a door, slightly ajar. Harry walked up to it. _I bet Nico's in here, _he thought to himself. _Wonder what he's doing._

Harry opened the door; Nico was indeed in the room. To be specific, he was passed out on a large four poster bed, also dusty—the entire Shrieking Shack was dusty—with his backpack, school bag, and wizard's robes (which, he, for some reason, was using as a pillow, instead of the actual pillows).

Harry looked at Hermione, who looked at Ron, who shrugged and walked over to the bed. Harry and Hermione followed more cautiously. Harry knew how jumpy Nico could be; if they woke him up, he did not want to have a sword in his face again.

Hermione seemed to know what she was doing. She rapped her knuckles on one of the posts. "Nico?"

Nico didn't hear her. Harry wondered if he was dreaming about McDonald's, or bagels or something.

Ron took over. He knocked more loudly on the bed. "Oi! We came all the way over here, so you are coming back to Hogwarts right now!"

Nico woke up this time, sat up, saw Ron, and flopped back down again. "Can't you just _leave me alone?_" He sounded more exasperated than angry this time.

"Nico, could you _please _come back to Hogwarts?" Hermione asked. _If this doesn't work, _Harry thought to himself, _I swear I'm getting Lupin, or Dumbledore, or SOMEONE, or maybe I will personally drag Nico all the way back. If I have to._

Nico groaned. "Fine," he muttered. "But don't expect me to _ever _go to another Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Speaking of which, have you three been talking about what happened?"

Harry avoided Nico's gaze. Had they talked about the boggart? Well, yes, they had. Nico's gaze grew cold. "Of course you would," he said, his voice hard. He got to his feet and pushed past them, slinging his bags over his shoulder. He seemed unusually tired, and even grumpier than usual, if that was even possible. Harry wondered what that was about.

Whatever it was, Nico would be back at Hogwarts soon. So Harry could get some sleep soon. The sooner, the better, in his opinion.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

The moment Nico stepped inside Hogwarts' large oak doors, he regretted it. Professor Dumbledore was waiting for him. Curse Nico's luck. Dumbledore just smiled; his blue eyes twinkling calmly, which Nico for some reason found infuriating.

"Please come with me, Mr. di Angelo. You three, go get some sleep. You deserve it," Professor Dumbledore said.

Turning to Nico, he said the words Nico had been dreading. "Nico, we need to talk."

* * *

**Author's Notes: Well, compared with that last chapter, this thing is _short. _Even so, I hope you enjoyed! :D**

**Sorry about that edit; it was necessary. I couldn't find any good reasons for Nico not to have been expelled—and then the rest of the story would have gone poof.**


	7. A Conversation or Two

**Rising From Shadowed Ashes**

**GreenCrystal19**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Heroes of Olympus; they belong to respective authors; J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan. Cover art by Viktoria Ridzel (Viria/viria13/vika) as usual. Her art is amazing; she is now the official portrait artist.**

* * *

**Author's Notes: Nothing much to say. If you reviewed, thanks! Sorry I messed up on that last chapter. If you haven't read my changes, please go back and do so; you can just skim through if you want. I basically made it less dramatic so the others wouldn't be TOO suspicious. Like, no skeleton summoning or dementor fights.**

* * *

**Chapter 7: A Conversation or Two**

**Harry's PoV**

Since Gryffindor Tower could be reached on the way to Dumbledore's office via one of the many secret passageways, Harry, Ron, and Hermione tagged along. Maybe they could discover something useful.

Harry wasn't sure how he felt about Nico.

The guy was certainly dangerous—he had, after all, attacked Harry. And he had a Dark artifact and control over Dark magic—which was illegal.

Even so, what Harry had seen in the boggart's mist was disturbing—and Harry barely understood it. He'd seen a wasteland that looked like hell or something, Nico had gotten trapped in a bronze jar, and some angel guy had showed up.

Harry hadn't exactly understood the scene—after all, it had been partially blocked by mist, and Harry couldn't hear all the words being said—but he was fairly certain Nico had admitted a secret. Harry was also fairly certain that the secret had something to do with Nico's crush on someone named Percy Jackson. (Emphasis on the name _Percy_—that sounded like Percy was a guy, which meant that Nico was…)

Speaking of Nico, he'd spent the entire walk complaining under his breath. "Stupid wizards," he muttered. "Stupid boggarts. Professor Lupin is a _vlákas__*****__. E_ quei tre—" Nico shot a dirty look at Harry, Ron, and Hermione— "_sono_ _insopportabili_."****** **[*Idiot—in Greek. **And **_**those three**_ **are **_**insufferable**_—**in Italian.**

Harry didn't really want a translation. Whatever Nico had said, it didn't sound nice. He followed Hermione's lead, and she chose to ignore him. Ron, on the other hand, was glaring daggers at Nico, his blue eyes glowing with intensity.

Dumbledore was walking in front of them, calm yet alert. He also ignored Nico, who was still grumbling about wizards and boggarts. "I swear, if I don't get to leave soon, _questa scuola avrà alcune aggiunte magiche divertenti, stile semidio_.*** **A guy can't ever be _left alone _at this school. _Tóso enochlitikó_."**** [*This school will have some fun magical additions, demigod style—in Italian. **So annoying—in Greek.]**

Harry finally snapped. "Can you _shut up?_" he asked Nico.

"_Non tu—_"*** **Nico seemingly accidentally began responding in one of the other two languages before switching back to English. "Don't you tell me what to do!" he snapped, but Nico was silent the rest of the way to Dumbledore's office. **[*Don't you—in Italian.]**

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

Harry, Ron, and Hermione left on the way, turning down another corridor. Nico hoped they planned to return to Gryffindor Tower, not spy on him. But Nico figured that even Harry would listen to Dumbledore's instructions. Unlike Nico.

Dumbledore stopped on the seventh floor, in front of a stone gargoyle. He said a password—"Cauldron Cake—" and the gargoyle jumped aside, revealing a round spiral stone staircase that started moving upwards, like a mortal escalator. "If you'd please follow me," Dumbledore said, beckoning.

"Styx," Nico muttered under his breath. The floor rumbled slightly. He'd hoped that Dumbledore's office would have an easy escape route, like a door—not a cramped spiral staircase with a gargoyle, that could probably keep Nico from getting down if Dumbledore told it to.

Reluctantly, Nico followed Dumbledore and stood on the stairs until they arrived at the door at the top. Upon entering, Nico found himself in a circular room decorated with beautiful shades of gold and red. Soft whirring and clicking noises came from around the room; most from a variety of silver instruments on spindly tables. A large clawed desk sat near the back of the room, with a grand golden chair on the side farther from Nico, and several plainer but comfortable chairs on the side closer to Nico. Behind the desk was a portrait labeled "Professor Dippet" and a shelf. What Nico realized was the Sorting Hat sat on the shelf; the Head master's office must be where it was kept.

Around the room were portraits of what Nico figured were past headmasters and headnistresses of the school—and most of them were snoozing away, as it was _still _the middle of the night—and Nico was tired. Suddenly, the most beautiful sounds Nico had ever heard filled the air, seeming to come from inside Nico's soul, and Nico noticed a gold and red bird sitting on an ornate perch behind Dumbledore's desk. The bird was the one making the music, which made Nico remember the best moments of his life, and feel strong, happy, and courageous: like the opposite effects that a dementor had on him.

"What type of bird is that, Professor?" Nico asked.

"Ah, that is my pheonix, Fawkes. A pheonix's music is magic—it makes the good feel great courage and strength, but strikes fear into the hearts of the wicked. He seems to have taken a liking to you, Dumbledore mused. "He must sense something special."

"Hmm..." Fawkes stopped singing, and Nico broke himself out of his trance. "Well, what did you want to talk about?"

Dumbledore sat in his chair, and Nico sat in a chair as well. "I want to discuss what happened in your Defense Against the Dark Arts class."

Nico could feel himself tense. Warily, he looked at Dumbledore. "What do you want to know?" he asked.

"Well...your encounter with the boggart confused quite a few people. Professor Lupin wants to know what happened so he can take steps in the future to avoid anything similar."

Nico felt a surge of anger and annoyance. "I have an idea," he said. "Don't force students to face their worst fears, in front of _everyone, _in their first class. Lupin doesn't know who they are or what they've been through!"

Dumbedlore looked thoughtful. "I'll mention it to him," he said agreeably. "Most boggarts take the form of something relatively...normal. Your case was something entirely new, in Professor Lupin's case. He would have immediantly removed that particular boggart, except you had already settled the matter.

"And on to my next question...could you please explain the bones, cracks, and tendrils of darkness leading all over my school? Mr. Filch still hasn't finished cleaning up, and the professors have yet to find a way to return the shadows to normal."

"That...was me," Nico said. "It happens when I get upset, or angry, or scared." He snapped his fingers. "The bones are gone and the shadows should go back to normal now."

Dumbedlore looked mildly disturbed. "Nico...how strong exactly are your powers?"

Nico didn't want to answer that. "Strong enough," he said.

Dumbledore looked interested. "Show me, please," he said.

Nico shrugged. "It tires me out. And no, I'm not going to do it, because recently I used those powers to move a forty-foot statue half-way across the world, and I am still tired from that. Oh, did I mention I also started temporarily turning into smoke?"

Dumbedlore nodded. "Remus did mention that, yes. But it happens even when you're not near the dementors?"

Nico shrugged again. Had it happened? Well, yes. But he decided to water that down a little. "It's happened a couple times," he said. "When I'm tired or when I let my guard down."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "So...if you let your guard down now, you'd turn into smoke?"

"Um...maybe? I _am _tired. And it _is _night. But usually it's just my hands or something, not my entire body." Nico looked at Dumbledore warily. Why was he so curious about the fading?

Dumbledore seemed to have read his mind, which unsettled Nico. "And the bones?" he asked.

Nico was a bit more nervous about that. "I...um, don't really want to talk about that, please." Nico's voice got harder. "People find it unsettling."

Dumbledore decided to move on to other matters, apparently. "What about the scenes in the boggart? A jar, a wasteland, and a conversation, or two? "

"Places I've been and things I've done," Nico said shortly. "Please, don't ask."

Dumbledore looked worried, and also like he wanted to ask more. But seeing how tired Nico was, he appeared to change his mind. "Well, go get some sleep. And Nico? If you ever need to talk to anyone about your...let's call it your secret...your classmates are better listeners than you may think."

Nico tensed. "You know about that?"

Dumbledore nodded, almost sadly. "Yes, Nico. The whole school knows about you."

Nico turned pale. Over the last few hours, he'd convinced himself that the class hadn't been able to make sense of his boggart. But no: they knew. They would hate him now. Or would they...?

"Couldn't you erase their memories or something?" Nico asked. "_Please. _Ther must be a spell for it, or something—"

But Dumbledore was shaking his head. "No, Nico," he said gently. "You can't keep running away. You need to simply admit that's who you are and learn to live with it."

Nico looked down. "I'll try."

He walked out of the office.

* * *

**Harry's PoV  
**

Harry would have liked to say that everything had gone back to normal over the next few days, but they hadn't. Nico had grown even more isolated and reclusive—he showed up for (most) of his classes, but he never was at meals, nor was he at the common room during evenings. Harry saw his bird, Ambra, swooping upon the tables and grabbing large amounts of food during mealtimes, so Harry knew that Nico was eating. But he couldn't help but wonder where he was.

In addition, Harry could never get close enough to ask Nico—he left class in a hurry and was always the first one in. Whenever Harry tried to get close during class, a teacher would tell him off or Nico would move away or even leave the classroom. The boy seemed determined to avoid all human contact, at all costs.

This went on for weeks; the first Hogsmeade visit was already coming up, along with Halloween. Finally, Fred and George noticed Harry's predicament and approached him in the Entrance Hall. "Alright, Harry," Fred said. "We have a little secret to share with you."

George piped in. "Yeah," he said. "We have decided your needs are greater than ours."

"And so—" Fred said—

"We give you—" George added—

"The secret to our success!" they both said in harmony, producing a thick wad of blank parchment.

"What's this rubbish?" Harry asked, annoyed.

"Rubbish? Watch and learn, mate," Fred said.

George tapped his wand against the paper and whispered dramatically: "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Thin, spindly letters arched across the paper: _Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers, are proud to present THE MARAUDER'S MAP.  
_

Harry was about to ask what that was, but the map wasn't done yet. It formed a map of Hogwarts that was, as far as Harry could tell, perfectly accurate. But that wasn't all: the entire map was covered in small, labeled dots, and in the area on the map labeled _Entrance Hall, _three of the dots in the corner were labeled _Fred Weasley, George Weasley, and Harry __Potter. _Other dots showed all the Hogwarts students and professors, as well as the ghosts: _Argus Filch _was prowling along a corridor a few floors above them, and _Severus Snape _was in his office.

"This shows _everyone _in the castle?" Harry asked, amazed.

"Yup," George said. "Nicked it from Filch's office. You can see where everyone is—"

"What they're doing—" Fred added—

"Every moment—"

"Of every day!"

"Whoa," Harry said. "You're really giving this to me?"

George winked. "We have all the secret passegways memorized. About that, one leads to Hogmeade! The one-eyed witch, here—"

He indicated a statue by the stairs leading to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, as Fred continued: "—leads straight into Honeydukes cellar!"

"So now you can find Nico," George said. "_And _get to Hogsmeade!"

"Thanks, guys!" Harry said.

Fred winked. "No problem! Now run along and forget we said anything!"

"But don't forget to clear the map when you're done, or anyone can see it," George said. He tapped the map with his wand before handing it to Harry. "Just say _micheif managed._"

TThe map faded until it again resembled a blank piece of old parchment. "Thanks!" Harry said, running up the marble staircase to find an empty corridor where he could peruse the map; it was Saturday, so he had plenty of free time. Stopping outside the charms classroom, Harry tapped the map and whispered "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

Scanning the map, he finally saw it: a dot labeled _Nico di Angelo. _Nico seemed to be pacing around an empty room in the dungeons, labeled _Storage. _Another dot next to him was labeled _Ambra. _So his bird was down there as well.

Harry started walking quickly down to the dungeons, eyes fixed on Nico's dot. Harry walked down the steps, reaching the cold, draft hallways where both the Potion's classroom and Slytherin dormitories were located. He was so occupied by the map that he didn't notice the dot labeled "Draco Malfoy" until it was practically next to Harry's.

"What are you doing down here, Potter?" a cold, drawing voice said behind him.

Harry whipped around. "None of your business, Malfoy," he said. "Why are you skulking around for anyways?"

"If you haven't forgotten, Potter, the dungeons are where _Slytherins _belong, not Gryfinndors. I bet Snape'll be _really _pleased to know that you were down here. By the way, Potter, I haven't seen your _friend _di Angelo—" Harry grit his teeth; he was _not _friends with Nico— "in a while. I wonder if he's gotten himself in trouble, like that oaf teaching Care of Magical Creatures."

"_Don't insult Hagrid!_" Harry snarled, pointing his wand at Malfoy. "You baited that hippogriff! It's your fault that you got scratched, and you were barely hurt anyways—you faked it to get Hagrid sacked!"

"Don't point your wand at me, Potter," Malfoy drawled, obviously enjoying Harry's anger. "You don't want to go making a scene like di Angelo did. I heard all about it; is it true that—"

"—I will make you regret it if you spread rumors about me? Yes, it is." Nico seemed to appear straight from the shadows behind Malfoy, his expression steely—like the calm before the storm.

Malfoy jumped back, his ferret-like face full of terror for a split second before becoming a mask of contempt. "My father willhear about this!" he said, before turning and trying (and failing) to flee the scene with dignity.

Nico watched him go with a mix of anger and weariness on his face. "Like his father is powerful compared to mine. _Sciocco idiota*****_," he muttered. Nico seemed to have forgotten that Harry was there; he turned as though planning on going back to the room he'd been in before. Harry, however, wasn't finished. **[*Silly idiot—in Italian.]**

"Where are you running to now?" Haeey snapped.

Nico turned, suddenly angry. "Yes, about that," he said. "How come I find you right outside the room I'm in?"

Harry didn't answer his question. "Who is your father, if he's so powerful?"

The question seemed to catch Nico off guard. "Oh _Styx__!_" he said. It sounded like a swear word of some type. "_Níko, ilíthios!_*****" **[Nico, you idiot—in Greek.] **

"Who is he?" Harry asked again.

"No one you'd want to know," Nico said, giving Harry a cold smile. He turned and seemed to disappear straight into the shadows. Harry furiously searched the Marauder's Map. Nico was in the storage room—no. His dot was gone; the ink disappearing from the map in an instant. Harry scanned the map and found it again—all the way on the _fifth floor. _Since when could Nico _teleport? _Although it explained how he'd managed to get to Diagon Alley, or to King's Cross station, without the Ministry cars. Maybe that could have explained why Nico had been so tired.

Harry blinked. _Shadows. Bones. A raven. A powerful father. And the odd languages—maybe he travels a lot. _Voldemort _must have traveled a lot—what if Nico is his apprentice or something? I have to tell Ron and Hermione!_

* * *

**Nico's PoV  
**

Nico leaned against the wall of the closet. He'd shadow traveled into the middle of a corridor, grabbed his stuff, and found the nearest hiding spot he could—the closet. He sighed. Nico couldn't stay in this closet forever. Grabbing his stuff, Nico walked out and began pacing down the corridor. How could anyone at this school ever accept him, after what had happened with the boggart?

Nico didn't notice the girl until she asked, "Are you the one who sliced the boggart in half?"

He looked up. The speaker was a girl with dirty blond hair that reached her waist. Her eyes were silver-gray, and wide, giving her a permanently surprised look. Nico sighed. "Yes. I'm Nico di Angelo."

The girl didn't look any more or less surprised. "I'm Luna Lovegood, but people call me Loony Lovegood. Are you suffering from an infestation of wrackspurts?"

Nico blinked, utterly confused. "... What?"

"Invisible creatures. They float in through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy. I thought I saw some zooming around."

Nico blinked. "Did I...um...was I solid, a moment ago?"

Luna wasn't even fazed. "Well, your feet got a little smoky, but you still looked like you had a wrackspurt or two in your head."

"I'm fine...I think," Nico said. He wasn't fine; even talking to Malfoy, Harry, and Luna was reminding him of what the entire school knew now. How could any of them accept him?

"You're worried about how the whole school knows about who you loved," Luna said. "Percy Jackson."

Nico looked up suddenly. "How...?"

Luna just looked at him. "The boggart mentioned it."

Nico scowled. "Everyone knows, don't they? All of my classmates hate me."

"Harry Potter isn't that bad you know," Luna said serenely. "He saved my friend's life last year."

Nico did a double take. "He _what?_"

Luna blinked before continuing. "He saved Ginny Weasley's life."

Nico hadn't known that so much had happened at Hogwarts, but he wasn't surprised that Harry Potter had been in the middle of it. "What happened?" he asked, following Luna, who'd started wandering along the corridor.

Luna began to explain the basics of Harry's time at Hogwarts, occasionally telling Nico about creatures like the crumple-horned snorkacks and the nargles. Nico listened intently until she'd finished.

"So—this Voldemort wizard killed Harry's parents, and tried to kill him twice in the past two years, almost succeeding both times?"

Luna nodded. "That's what they say, although I have a theory that—"

"Um, I think I know enough," Nico said. Whatever Luna's theory was, it probably wasn't 100% accurate, based on what she said about wrackspurts and nargles. Although Luna was obviously intelligent—she'd known exactly what was bothering Nico, which he still didn't understand. How was that even _possible? _

"I don't want to have to talk to anyone about it," Nico said, referring to the boggart incident.

Luna's expression turned a little bit sad. "I'm weird too," she said. "That's why they call me Loony. But Harry and his friends aren't so bad; Ginny has always even nice to me."

"Ron's always been a jerk to me," Nico said bitterly. "And in my experience, things run in the family."

"In my experience, it's quite the opposite. I've got to go find some things that are missing. Maybe the nargles took them. But I'll tell Ginny that you're not that bad." Luna walked off, calm as always.

Nico looked up. Somehow, he'd ended up outside Gryfinddor Tower again. Taking a deep breath, Nico said the password and walked in. "Let's try this again," he said. "Watch out, Gryffindors—the Son of Hades is in the house."

* * *

**Author's Notes: Short, but relatively action packed! :D Sorry for all the notes. I find it confusing when translations are in the author's notes, so I just stuck them right in. Sorry for typos—autocorrect keeps trying to change Nico to Nick. **

**Okay, I just noticed I've been using - – and — wrong. To help my fellow writers, I will clarify: - is for separating two words, like blue-green. – which is the second longest, is used to separate ranges, like 15–16.**

**The longest one — is used to indicate a pause, like a ; symbol—or to separate a thought, like I just did. Using spaces before and after: this—compared to this — is a decision of style. If you want more detail, just search up "hyphen en dash and em dash"—em dashes are the longest, en dashes are the middle length, and hyphens are the shortest. **

**I may or may not go back and fix these in previous chapters.**

**EDIT: I fixed them.**


	8. A Dream, a Feast, and a Break-In

**Rising From Shadowed Ashes**

**GreenCrystal19**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Heroes of Olympus; they belong to respective authors; J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan. Cover art by Viktoria Ridzel (Viria/viria13/vika) as usual. Her art is amazing; she is now the official portrait artist.**

* * *

**Author's Notes: Okay, I'm so so sorry! I haven't updated in like TWO WEEKS! I caught the flu, (YES the flu, I was tested), and am STILL attempting to catch up on work and stuff—and do work that was assigned while I was catching up. Also, I've been tired recently—lots of wasting time on YouTube. But I finally got this out! Whee!**

* * *

**Chapter 8: A Dream, A Feast, and a Break-In**

**Harry's PoV**

To Harry's great surprise, and also annoyance, Nico was back in the common room. Harry had just gotten in from a good training session (Quidditch season had begun) and wasn't pleased to have Nico ruining it. He'd told Hermione about his theory, and she had snorted and told him that Nico couldn't possibly be Voldemort's son, or apprentice, or _whatever _Harry thought, and that Harry should stop bothering him.

And as for Nico ruining Harry's evening, there wasn't much chance of that happening, either. Nico was curled up under a mass of red and gold covers, with his bird on top. Deciding that he would be better off if Nico stayed asleep, Harry chose not to bother him and got ready for bed himself.

Ron came up awhile later from the common room; Harry gave him a meaningful look, glancing at Nico. Ron raised his eyebrows like, _What? _

Harry shrugged and looked at Nico again. He looked a lot younger when he was sleeping, like his surname, di Angelo. Maybe when he was sleeping, he wasn't constantly thinking about whatever he'd seen in the boggart, or whoever he'd lost.

Nico had evidently lost someone; his reaction when Harry had told him about his parents said so. Harry felt a little guilty that he hadn't asked about it at all; and Nico hadn't volunteered the information. Maybe he'd lost his parents, like Harry.

Shaking his head, Harry squirmed under his covers and closed his eyes, although it took him awhile to fall asleep. When he did, he had strange dreams...dreams about his parents.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

After getting all of his things organized again, Nico crashed on the bed and buried himself under the covers. Ambra flapped up and joined him. He was glad that he'd found her, along with his other animal friend. While he'd been around the castle, Nico had had plenty of opportunities to sneak off and give Snuffles some food. The large black dog enjoyed sausages and chicken, Nico had noticed. He would need to bring Snuffles some more soon.

When Nico fell asleep, he dreamed of Bianca.

A giant bronze statue, as tall as a skyscraper, stood in a massive junkyard, surrounded by a satyr and five demigods: Grover Underwood, Thalia Grace, Zoë Nightshade, Percy Jackson, and...and Bianca di Angelo.

Percy was talking. "There may be a way to control the thing. Switches or something. I'm going to get inside."

"How? You'll have to stand under its foot! You'll be crushed!" Bianca said.

"Distract it. I'll just have to time it right."

Bianca's jaw tightened. "No. I'll go."

"You can't. You're new at this! You'll die! " Percy said, trying to persuade her.

Nico knew what was coming. He could hardly bear to watch this; the actual moment when Bianca had died. Even Tartarus hadn't hurt this much.

"It's my fault the monster came after us," Bianca said. "It's my responsibility. Here." She picked up the little god statue and pressed it into Percy's hand. "If anything happens, give that to Nico. Tell him... tell him I'm sorry."

"Bianca, no!"

But she wasn't waiting for Percy. She charged at the monster's left foot, towards certain death.

Nico's dream changed, even as tears came to Nico's eyes. "No, Bianca!" he whispered, closing his eyes tight. "You shouldn't have gone..."

When Nico opened his eyes, he saw a new scene; although it was blurry. A slim man with messy black hair and hazel eyes was shouting at a women with dark red hair and bright green eyes. _Harry's eyes, _Nico realized. These were Harry's parents.

"_Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off—"_

_The sounds of someone stumbling from a room—a door bursting open—a cackle of high-pitched laughter and eyes, reptilian eyes with slit pupils, eyes that glowed red as blood..._

Nico woke up, startled. _Where had_ that_ dream come from? Unless..._

He looked over, and Harry Potter was looking back at him, with something new in his eyes.

* * *

**Harry's PoV**

Harry was dreaming of his parents.

The scene was blurry, but clear enough. A slim man with messy black hair and hazel eyes was shouting at a women with dark red hair and bright green eyes. _Harry's eyes, _Nico realized. These were Harry's parents.

"_Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off—"_

_The sounds of someone stumbling from a room—a door bursting open—a cackle of high-pitched laughter and eyes, reptilian eyes with slit pupils, eyes that glowed red as blood..._

The scene changed, red fading to black, and black fading to a junkyard with a giant bronze statue and four people standing around it. The fifth figure appeared to have...goat legs?

One of the people was talking. He had dark black hair and sea green eyes, and looked about fourteen. "There may be a way to control the thing. Switches or something. I'm going to get inside."

"How? You'll have to stand under its foot! You'll be crushed!" A girl with olive skin and dark hair and eyes said. She reminded Harry of someone, although he couldn't think of who.

"Distract it. I'll just have to time it right."

The girl's jaw tightened. "No. I'll go."

"You can't. You're new at this! You'll die! " The boy said, trying to persuade her.

"It's my fault the monster came after us," the girl said. "It's my responsibility. Here." She picked up the little god statue and pressed it into the boy's hand. "If anything happens, give that to Nico. Tell him... tell him I'm sorry."

"Bianca, no!"

But she wasn't waiting for him. She charged at the monster's left foot.

Harry woke up, and he realized that now he knew who Nico had lost. The girl who'd died—Bianca di Angelo—was his sister.

Harry looked at Nico with newfound respect...and saw that Nico was looking right back at him.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

"What...what just happened?" Nico asked warily. He was worried—had Harry dreamed of Nico's secrets? Bianca, and...Cupid, Percy?

Harry shook his head. "I had a weird dream. About...a statue? And..." he trailed off, a wise decision. Nico was glaring at Harry pretty fiercely.

Not that Nico was mad at _Harry_. It's not like the guy chose what to dream about. But had they just...traded dreams? How was that possible? What were the circumstances?

"How much did you see?" Nico snapped. _This _can't _be happening. No way._

Harry shuffled his feet. "Your sister, Bianca...she sacrificed herself. Do you miss her?"

Nico snorted. "Of _course _I miss her, you idiot!" _And I can't bring her back. Because, once again, she couldn't just _wait _a little longer. Just a little bit._

Harry seemed able to sense his anguish, as he didn't even respond to being called an idiot.

Nico glanced at him, and added: "I'm sorry about your parents. I...lost my mother, in an accident. If you ever want to talk...I know what it's like."

"..."

Nico broke the awkward silence that followed. "Well, I'm going back to bed."

He rolled over and closed his eyes, but Nico knew that neither he nor Harry would get much sleep that night. _Welcome home to Gryffindor, _Nico thought to himself.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

Nico had doubted that he'd fall asleep again, but he must have—because when he woke up, everyone was scrambling around the common room excitedly. Nico blinked, sat up, and rubbed his eyes. "What's the big deal?" he asked.

All five boys stopped and stared at him. "_Hogsmeade!_" everyone said.

"Haven't you heard about _anything?_" Dean Thomas asked. "Today's the first visit of the year!"

Ron nodded. "And after that—the Halloween Feast!"

Nico found all of this a little underwhelming. "Oh...yeah. Hogsmeade. Wizarding village?"

Everyone nodded.

"And there's this permission slip, right?"

Everyone nodded again.

"Eh. I got mine signed, but I didn't actually plan on going."

Harry blinked. "_You _got yours signed?"

Nico nodded. "Why? Is that surprising?"

Harry blinked. "I mean—what with your—"

Nico glaring at Harry. "_Yes?_" he said, although the real message he was sending went more like: _SHUT YOUR WIZARD FACE RIGHT NOW, OR I WILL STICK A SWORD IN IT._

Harry quickly changed course. "Who signed it?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "My dad."

Harry glanced at Nico's bag, as though planning to read Nico's permission slip when he wasn't looking. Nico rolled his eyes. _Does this guy _ever _stop intruding on other people's personal secrets? _

Harry apparently decided that the dormitory wasn't the best place to play detective, and decided to leave Nico alone. Nico was thankful; he didn't need more questioning about his family, especially early in the morning, after a bad night's sleep. And speaking of that, what kind of crazy dream trade-off had happened? _By the gods, if I have to start sharing dreams with Harry, about my _past _no less..._

Nico didn't finish that thought. He got up and walked out of the dormitory; since he was wearing the same clothes he'd had on yesterday. And just for safekeeping, he brought his permission slip with him. Harry wasn't about to find out about demigods any time soon; not on Nico's watch.

And Hogsmeade?

...Nico _might _as well go. Who knows? He might actually enjoy himself. Maybe Luna would be there, and Ginny didn't sound _that _bad.

In a good mood, Nico found his way down to breakfast and plunked down at the Gryffindor table. A red-haired girl, who looked about eleven or twelve, came over and sat next to him. "Hi," she said. "I'm Ginny Weasley. My friend Luna—" she pointed at the Ravenclaw table— "told me about you."

"Oh?" Nico said, eyeing her warily. "What did she say?"

Ginny was unfazed. "Well, she said something about you having a nargle problem—" seeing Nico's expression, Ginny added: "—but Luna can like that sometimes. She said that...um, that I should make friends with you." Ginny shrugged. "I just came over here to annoy Ron and Percy—they told me to stay away from you. And whenever Percy says something is a bad idea—I'm in."

Nico did a double take. "Percy? Oh, you mean Percy Weasley. And...I _guess _we could be friends? I don't know. Maybe."

Ginny shrugged again, and started eating her food.

"_So,_" Nico said, pouring himself some O.J., "do you mind telling me what exactly happened last year? Luna told me the basics—monster, chamber, something about a diary—but I'd like a second source."

"Oh, _that,_" Ginny said flatly. "Well, I got possessed by the book."

"You _what?!_" Nico almost spilled his orange juice.

Ginny snorted. "I see that Luna didn't mention that."

"No, she didn't," Nico agreed. "You're...um, back to normal now, right?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Duh."

"Well, that's great," Nico said, awkwardly trying to think of what to say. _Oh, I was possessed by a book, but I'm fine now. Want some biscuits? _It wasn't easy, thinking of a response to _that _statement. "Did anything else crazy happen here?"

"Well, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher almost got Harry and Ron killed by giant spiders last year," Ginny said casually.

Nico choked on his toast. "_What?_" he asked, after a fit of coughing.

Ginny started explaining the story, which Ron had refused to tell her. However, he'd told Fred and George, who of course had told Ginny. Nico couldn't help but laugh; it had probably been terrifying, but compared to his monster-fighting experiences, Nico found that the whole ordeal sounded hilarious.

When she'd finished, Nico, desperately trying to keep a straight face, said: "Well, that sounds awful, but seeing as I was attacked by a manticore when I was ten..."

It was Ginny's turn to be surprised. "A _manticore? _Fred and George told me about those! They said they were _really _dangerous! Nico, you're joking." Ginny crossed her arms. "No one's life is _that_ crazy."

Nico laughed bitterly, thinking about all that had gone wrong in demigod-land lately. A manticore was _nothing _compared to that. "Oh, it sure can," he said.

Ginny blinked. "Can you tell me a little bit, at least? Your family?"

"I'm Italian," Nico said shortly. "My mother was the daughter of a diplomat in Washington D.C, so we moved there for..." Nico couldn't exactly mention World War II without some funny looks— "_family reasons,_" he said instead. "There was...an accident. At the hotel. And my mom didn't make it out."

Ginny was silent for a moment after this. "I'm sorry."

Nico sighed inwardly. She wasn't a demigod. Sure, she'd had some rough experiences, but she didn't know what it was like for Nico. Only demigods had ever been able to even _imagine _what it was like—losing your mother, then your sister, then leaving camp. Being plunged into Tartarus. "It's fine. You didn't know."

"Did you...did you have any other family?"

"I _had _a sister," Nico said, not waiting for Ginny's reaction. "I have a half-sister as well. Oh, she's fine—she lives in California. I have a lot of...um, I'll call them _family friends. _There's a guy named Jason—I guess the closest thing is a cousin?—and also a guy named Percy, and a girl named Reyna. Then there's Leo, Piper, Frank—"

"Okay, okay," Ginny said, looking overwhelmed. "I'm sorry about your mom, and your sister—and I'm, um—"

"Completely lost when it comes to the rest of them?" Nico suggested.

Ginny nodded, before changing the subject. "So, I guess you'll have fun in Hogsmeade."

"You're not coming?" Nico asked, surprised that he felt a bit downhearted about that. He'd liked Ginny—she seemed like someone who wouldn't immediately ditch him if he did something wrong. Although she didn't know he was a demigod.

Ginny spread her hands, looking quite annoyed as she said: "I'm not in third year yet. Only second year. I can't go to Hogsmeade, and neither can Luna. You'll have to get along with _them_, I guess."

Ginny nodded at the doors to the Great Hall, which Harry, Ron, and Hermione had just entered through. When Ron saw Nico sitting next to Ginny, he freaked out, and nudged Harry. The the two of them came over to Nico and Ginny as fast as they could...which wasn't very fast...considering the crowd of students coming for breakfast, and things. Wizard logic.

Nico watched them, managing a blank face. Something told him that this was either going to be very funny, or very embarrassing.

"Ginny! What are you _doing? _Do you _ever _listen to what people tell you?" Ron asked.

Ginny wasn't impressed. "I'm sitting here, eating my breakfast, and talking to another student. That's what I'm doing. Now go away, or I'll tell Mum about Hermione doing half your homework last week."

Nico made a mental nincredibly. sassy to her older brother. Or at least, Nico was pretty sure Hazel was younger. He knew they were both eighty something...?

Ron processed this information, before saying: "I mean..." he gestured at Ginny, then Nico, before throwing his hands up in exasperation. "You need to stay away from...um..."

"Me?" Nico suggested, still keeping his blank slate face.

"Yes! I mean no! I mean—"

Nico couldn't hold it in anymore. He jumped to his feet (Harry and Ron again freaked out) and beat a hasty retreat. In the relative safety of the Entrance Hall, Nico finally couldn't hold back his giggles any more. Gods, why were these wizards so _hilarious? _Finally stamping down his amusement, Nico walked back into the Great Hall, whereupon Ron and Harry continued to stare at him.

"What?" Nico asked, assuming his blank slate face. Although when Ron and Harry looked away, he glanced at Ginny, who rolled her eyes, then winked, like: _They're being such _idiots_! And we can laugh at them behind their back all we want!_

Nico was starting to like Ginny. Perhaps Luna was right, and not all Weasleys were that bad. He wondered what he'd do when they went to Hogsmeade—Nico had decided that he'd go, even if Luna and Ginny couldn't.

After breakfast was over, the students who were going to Hogsmeade filed out of the Great Hall into the Entrance Hall, where a grumpy looking Filch was looking over the students' permission slips, making sure no stragglers snuck into Hogsmeade. Although Nico had a feeling that one Harry Potter would be visiting Hogsmeade today, permission slip or no.

Whatever. Harry or no Harry, Nico was determined to at least _try_ to have a good time.

After getting his permission slip checked (the Mist helped cover the Ancient Greek, apparently) Nico filed put with the other students, heading down the path towards Hogsmeade. However, Nico hadn't considered that (duh) to get to Hogsmeade, you had to pass by the front gate. And Nico knew who would be waiting at the "entrances to the grounds"...

Yup. Dementors. "Oh gods, no," Nico muttered.

Hermione gave him a worried look. "You don't _have _to go to Hogsmeade, Nico," she said. "It's not required, so if you'd rather—"

"No," Nico said, gritting his teeth. He'd survived worse then dementors. He'd trekked through _Tartarus_, alone, surviving on fire water and his own willpower. "I'm not going to be stopped by some dumb dementors."

Hermione didn't seem to think this was a good idea. Secretly, Nico agreed. But he _needed _to do this—especially after the boggart incident, Nico needed to prove that he wasn't a wimp. Partly so his classmates wouldn't laugh at him, partly to reassure _himself. _Was all of this—messing around at Hogwarts instead of training at camp (or with skeletal warriors; either-or) making Nico forget his training? If that happened, Nico would be schist when he returned to demigod life.

The students walked closer, closer...Nico was hoping that the dementors would be distracted by all of the other people, so they wouldn't notice Nico. No such luck. As Nico passed through the gates, the two dementors (why only two, Nico didn't know) turned and stared straight at him. Well, they didn't exactly _have _visible faces, but Nico didn't give a schist about proper dementor terminology.

The memories were coming, rushing through Nico's head—Cupid, Bianca, Tartarus, and Cupid again—Nico could feel himself losing it. _No! I will _not _faint. I will not faint, collapse, or think any distracting thoughts. No. _It took all of Nico's mental strength, but he pushed away the memories, grit his teeth, and kept walking.

It was like being pinned under a heavy object, like a rock or something, and trying to keep it from falling down and crushing you—you couldn't focus on anything except the object, and not dying. Or like trying to swim against ocean waves during a hurricane. Actually, it sounded a lot like what Percy had said about holding up the sky.

When it was finally over, and the dementors were long behind them, Nico was _exhausted_—not physically, but mentally. He hadn't fainted, but he _still _felt cold and shivery. Shaking his head, Nico looked around, actually processing his surroundings. And Hogsmeade was _amazing_.

It was a picturesque village, little cottages and shops. A larger street cut through the middle of town, lined with all kinds of interesting places. But that wasn't what made Hogsmeade amazing. The whole place was bustling with magic—wizards, witches, enchanted objects...it was like New Rome, but less Roman, and more...wizard-like. Or British.

"This is High Street," Hermione said, talking to both Ron and Nico. "The main street. Ooo, that's Zonko's Joke Shop. And way over there—the Shrieking Shack, where—um, where you camped out, Nico. It's supposed to be one of the most haunted buildings in Britain."

Before Nico could stop himself, he said, "Wait. Haunted? I didn't sense a single spirit there. Are you sure—"

"You can _sense spirits? What?_" Ron asked, looking sharply at Nico with a startled expression.

"Styx!" Nico said. "I'm such an _idiot!_"

"Wait. Were we not supposed to know that? What else are you not telling—"

"It's pretty cold out here," Hermione interrupted Ron. "Maybe we should head to the Three Broomsticks and have a Butterbeer."

Hermione wasn't lying. It was quite crisp, and Nico's run-in with the dementors hadn't helped matters. "That sounds fine," Nico saidl "But...Butter_beer_?"

"It's not very alcoholic," Hermione reassured him. "It really only would effect smaller magical creatures, like goblins or house elves."

"Ah...I see," Nico said, not particularly reassured by Hermione's words. Even so, Nico didn't plan on having much.

They arrived at the Three Broomsticks, and upon walking in, Nico almost had a heart attack. "Hazel? _Will? _What on earth are you two _doing _here?"

The two were sitting at a table near the back, but jumped to their feet and came over when they saw Nico.

Will grinned. "Well, a Hogwarts ghost, Sir Nicole or something—"

"Sir Nicholas," Nico corrected.

"Yeah, Sir Nicholas told another ghost, who told a wind spirit, who told a harpy—"

"Can you please get on with it?"

Hazel took over. "We got word about the Hogsmeade visit and decided to give you a little surprise," she said. "I came because, hey, you're my brother—I missed you. And _Will _came because—"

"Hazel! It's not like that! Just because Travis and Connor Stoll told you that doesn't mean it's—urgh!" Will face-palmed.

Nico looked at Hazel like _What in the actual Hades was that about._

Hazel just smirked, then said, "I ordered some...Butterbeers." She made a face. "Despite the name, they're actually pretty good."

Nico smiled. "Seriously? Alright...I'll try one. Oh my gods, so much has happened here—the headmaster got these _things _called dementors to guard the gates. I had to pass them to get here. Also, Will?"

"Yeah?" Will said.

"The dementors? They're causing a few problems. Fading, once."

"_What? _For Zeus' sake, Nico! You should have told me that you still had the fading issues! I could have _helped _you!"

"Well, I've been busy, what with the boggart revealing my darkest secrets, and then camping out in 'the most haunted building in Britain.'" He made air quotes for that last part.

"Wow," Hazel said. "You really _have _been busy—you should tell us more about what happened while we have out Butterbeers. Also, who're your friends?"

"They're not my friends," Nico said automatically, then winced inwardly at the hurt expression on Hermione's face. "Um...sorry. I don't make friends easily," Nico said.

"It's...fine," Hermione said. "I'm Hermione Granger." She offered her hand to shake. Hazel, being from the 1920-40s, accepted.

"I'm Hazel Levesque," she said. "This is Will Solace."

"I'm Ron," Ron said. "Ron Weasley."

Will smiled. "Well, now that that's over, Nico here can _tell me exactly _what he's been up to." Will gave Nico a pointed look. "Doctor's orders."

"Urghhhhhh," Nico said. "Why are you so _annoying?_" Even so, he allowed Hazel to drag him over to their little table, and started telling them about his adventures at Hogwarts, while sipping the Butterbeer. Some of the dementor side-effects had worn off, but the Butterbeer got rid of the rest—it seemed to fill Nico with warmth, down to his bones. In short: it was great.

Nico started telling his story: arriving in Diagon Alley, being forced to stay at Hogwarts, facing the dementors, the boggart, and the teachers—and about Harry Potter.

After he'd finished, Will and Hazel for silent for a moment. Will sipped his Butterbeer, then, probably to change the subject, said: "You know, I'm considering mixing this, hot chocolate, and unicorn draught. Anti-dementor fun for everyone!"

"You do that," Nico said. "Just make sure it tastes decent."

"Alright. I'll be sure to make it pomegranate flavored."

"_Will! _Don't you dare!"

Hazel laughed. Will and Nico looked at her. "Yup. You two _definitely _like each other."

"No we don't," Will and Nico said in unison, before looking at each other and blushing, like: _Oh my gods, did we just speak in harmony? Now Hazel will NEVER leave us alone!_

"It's fine, guys," Hazel said. "Just have fun. Drink your Butterbeers or whatever."

Hermione and Ron were sitting at the other end of the pub, but even so, Nico wanted to hide in his aviator jacket and die for a while. The two were talking to each other, no doubt about the three of them, considering the furtive glances towards their table. However, they almost seemed to be talking to a third person as well...and whenever they paused, as though that person were talking, Nico got a slight tingling sensation, the hairs on the back of his neck rising.

"Harry's here," Nico decided.

"Ummm, no, Nico, he's not. Please don't hallucinate on me," Will said.

"No," Nico said. "I'm _sure _he's here. I can _sense_ his presence."

"Evil?" Hazel asked.

Nico nodded. "Although he hasn't actually done anything that bad. And Ginny and Luna say that he's saved the school, and saved Ginny's life."

"I thought you didn't have friends here," Hazel noted.

Nico waved his hand. "They're an exception."

"An exception."

"Yes. An exception," Nico replied.

"Well, want to explore this town now?" Will asked. "I can take this Butterbeer and make the anti-dementor fun for everyone now."

Nico gave him a startled look. "You've got the ingredients?"

Will nodded. "I have unicorn draught—because I _knew _you'd be up to something—and we can get chocolate at Honeyduke's."

"Alrighty, then," Nico said. He glanced at Hermione and Ron. "Harry, you can come out now." The feeling of being watched had been going on and off over the past few minutes, as though Harry was flipping an invisibility switch on and off...probably every time he talked to Ron and Hermione.

Harry's head appeared put of midair. "How did you know I was here?"

"Holy Jupiter!" Hazel yelped.

Nico answered Harry's question. "I'm special that way. How were you hiding?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Invisibility cloak. But if you tell _anyone_—"

Nico snorted. "Why would I tell anyone? I don't care whether you sneak to Hogsmeade! In fact, I might join you. Stupid dementors are guarding the entrance."

"But I should be done with the anti-dementor fun for everyone soon," Will said.

"Could we not call it that?" Nico asked, mildly irritated.

"Fine. I'll shorten it to anti-dementor F.F.E."

"Just call it anti-dementor stuff, for Hade's sake," Nico grumbled.

"Fiiinnnnne," Will replied.

Hermione interrupted the important discussion of the "anti-dementor stuff."

"You keep making references to Greek and Roman mythology," she noted cautiously. "Can you explain what that's about?"

"Oh Styx!" Will said.

"This is really _not _helping with the whole I'm-a-normal-student plan," Nico muttered.

Hazel saved them. "Alright, Hermione. We've known each other for a _long _time—by our standards, anyways. Nico and I are half-siblings. So, we have a lot of inside jokes. Like this card game that—"

Nico glared at her, and she stopped.

Hermione didn't look convinced, but she decided not to push the matter. "Alright...Just curious."

"No problem. Well, we're planning on heading to Honeydukes. See you around."

Hazel steered Will and Nico out of the Three Broomsticks, barely giving Will enough time to grab one of their Butterbeers for the great experiment. Once they were outside, she said, "You guys have _got _to be more careful! Hermione's smart. She's obviously close to finding you out, Nico! And you haven't exactly been covering your tracks—you've been leaving clues all over the place!"

Nico sighed. "Things happened quickly. They're going to find out no matter what we do—you realize that, don't you, Hazel?"

"Yes, I do, but that doesn't mean we can't stall a bit!"

"Nico's doing his best," Will said. "I'm sure that if he's careful the wizards won't find out for a while."

Hazel didn't seek satisfied with this, but she let it go. Will had that effect on people. The trio of demigods then headed down High Street towards Honeydukes.

There, Nico brought a _ton _of chocolate-related candy. He'd kind of developed...an _obsession _with the stuff, which couldn't be very healthy. Although Nico didn't really care; with all the demigod things he did, Nico wouldn't be in danger of getting overweight anytime...well, ever.

Passing about four packs of the stuff to Will, Nico unwrapped some Chocolate Skeletons and started munching off the heads. Hazel ate a handful of Every Flavor Beans and immediately gagged. She swallowed, then said, "What in the _world_—?"

"Oh, yeah," Nico said, laughing. "When they say every flavor, they _mean _every flavor."

Hazel nodded, looking a little sick. "I...I can tell," she said.

Will had been mixing his concoction together, using some unicorn draught from the large medical supplies satchel that he insisted on wearing everywhere. Grabbing an orange water bottle from the Camp Half-Blood store (almost as big as one of those large milk cartons), he dumped most of the stuff into that, and the rest into a more reasonably sized water bottle—and reasonably colored, as well.

"Thank the gods," Nico said. "You got a black water bottle."

"Oh, did you feel like carrying an hot-pink water bottle around Hogwarts, as well?"

Nico shook his head. "Most definitely not."

"Good answer!" Will said cheerfully, giving Nico the two bottles.

Nico didn't feel like carrying the huge, orange one, or stuffing it into his bag—so as they were walking out of the store, he did the easy thing. Letting out a loud whistle, Nico, Will, and Hazel watched as a certain raven soared towards them. "Hi, Ambra!" Nico said. "Mind taking this to the dormitory?"

Ambra cawed, snatched the bottle with her claws, and soared off again, before disappearing into the shadows of the Forbidden Forest.

"So, you _did _get a raven," Hazel said. "I knew you'd do it!"

Nico smiled. "Yup. That's me. Just a typical son of Hades with his typical magic raven."

Will grinned. "Should we go to that Zonko's place now?"

Hazel shrugged. "Why not?"

And so the demigod trio continued their adventures.

Zonko's was crazy—all kinds of wizarding pranking-tools were lying around. Dungbombs, flying frisbees, Peruvian darkness powder, sugar quills, spell-checking quills...the list went on and on. There were also some Muggle magic tricks and card-games, and wizard takes on them.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione also happened to be in the shop, Harry invisible. Nico couldn't sense him, but figured he must be there.

"Hi," Hermione said to them.

Nico nodded back, before going back to examining the various products, Will and Hazel occasionally pointing out stuff they found interesting. And then Nico saw it.

"Oh my gods! IT'S FREAKING MYTHOMAGIC!" Nico said, grabbing a deck of Mythomagic cards off a shelf. "And the CARDS MOVE! Now I have to collect them all _again!_"

Hazel was doubled over in laughter. "Oh...my...goodness...Nico!" she giggled.

Will grinned, pointing out the figurines next to the cards. "The statues move, too," he said.

"_OH MY_—I need these. Right now," Nico said.

Ron and Hermione had came over to see what the commotion was, and were watching with a mixture of disbelief and amusement. "I...didn't know you played card-games, Nico," Ron said.

"I don't," Nico responded. "I mean...I didn't. I mean—"

Ron snorted, but somehow, even though they were laughing at him, Nico was still in a pretty good mood.

"Psst," someone whispered.

Nico almost jumped out of his skin. "Holy Hades, Harry! Don't sneak up on me like that, for Ze—um, for goodness' sake!"

He thought he could hear Harry smothering laughter under the invisibility cloak. "You may not be that bad, Nico," he whispered, after he'd gotten his giggles under control. "If you want, I'll show you the secret passageway."

Nico blinked. "Um...why?"

"So you don't have to pass the dementors."

"Oh...sure, I guess. I was planning on just shadow-traveling—"

"Except you're not _supposed _to be doing that," Will said, walking over. "Doctor's orders."

"You're not even my doctor! Just because your dad is Ap—um, a _doctor, _doesn't mean you're one too!"

Will snorted. "Whatever, Sunshine."

"_Sunshine? _How am I _Sunshine? _I don't even _like _summer!"

"Okay, Death Breath."

"That's even _worse _than Sunshine," Nico grumbled, "and last I checked, that's not even _possible_."

Hazel walked over. "Alright...Zombie Dude."

Nico covered his face with his hands. "You two are going to be the death of me someday."

"Now wouldn't that be ironic," Hazel said.

"Mmm-hmm."

"Okay, okay, we'll stop now."

"Mm-hmm," Nico said, crossing his arms and giving them a skeptical look. "I'm _sure you will._"

"I'm...not sure what I just witnessed," Harry said from under the cloak. "But I'll show you the passageway when it's time to head back to Hogwarts. Also, is shadow-travel the teleportation thing you did?"

"Yeah," Nico said. "Although it's tiring—"

"—and so Nico is _not allowed _to do it," Will finished.

"Hey!" Nico protested.

"That is, unless he wants to be a puddle of darkness on the floor," Will added.

"Wait," Ron said. He and Hermione had joined the conversation at some point. "That can happen?"

"...Yeahhhh..." Nico said.

"And so he _isn't allowed to do it,_" Will reminded everyone, in case they hadn't gotten his message.

"Will, we get your point, okay?" Hermione said.

"Great. Try to keep him away from dementors, and boggarts."

"And make sure he IMs us if something important happens," Hazel added.

"IMs?" Harry asked.

"Instant-messages," Hazel supplied.

"But technology doesn't work within Hogwarts," Hermione said. "It goes haywire. Malfunctions."

"Um..." Nico said, unsure of what to say. "Our technology is..._special._"

"Special," Will agreed.

"Unusual," Hazel added.

"Unconventional!" Will said.

"Troublesome."

Will and Hazel looked at him like, _Gee, thanks, Nico di Emo._

"...Okay, then," Hermione said. "We'll try to do all that. In the meantime, we should probably buy all this. It'll be time for the Halloween Feast soon."

"There's a feast?" Nico asked.

Hermione and Ron looked at Nico like he was crazy, and under his cloak, Harry was probably doing the same thing. "The Halloween Feast," she repeated. "In the Great Hall."

"And...everyone's invited?" Nico asked.

"God, Nico! Of _course _everyone's invited!" Glancing at Will and Hazel, Hermione added: "That is, everyone in the _school._"

"Alright...I guess I'll go."

Ron looked at him. "It's _dinner, _mate," he said. "How could you _not _go?"

"Uhhh..."

"Don't answer that," Harry advised.

"Okay," Nico said. "Whatever. Harry, where should we meet later?"

"Honeydukes. You know where that is, right?" Harry answered.

Hazel nodded. "Yeah. My brother went on a chocolate spree."

"He's quite addicted to the stuff," Will added. "He even made me make this fancy chocolate drink with it."

"That. Was. _Your. _Idea!" Nico said.

Will smiled. "You can thank me later."

Hazel laughed at the expression on Nico's face. "Well, I'm probably not going to get anything here."

Will smirked. "I may get a few things for Travis and Connor to play around with."

"Oh—" Nico glanced at Hazel— "_God _no. That would be a _nightmare._"

Will shrugged. "We could prank Clarisse's cabin, if you let me give the Stolls some stuff."

"Deal," Nico said.

Will smiled. Hazel looked worried about Camp Half-Blood's safety—a reasonable concern, if the Stolls got their hands on the Zonko's merchandise.

The group headed to the counter to purchase their stuff; Harry passing his over to Ron, along with a handful of gold and silver coins. "That should cover your stuff as well," he whispered.

Ron blushed, but took the money. He obviously didn't like being poor. Nico felt bad for him—maybe, once this was all over, he'd give the Weasleys the rest of the money in his vault. If Hades let him, that is.

Nico did, in fact, buy a pack of Mythomagic cards. He had no idea why—maybe it would prove itself entertaining. He also brought a figurine of Apollo, to surprise a certain friend of his at some point...maybe more than a friend.

Afterwards, the demigods and wizards went their separate ways. Nico, Will, and Hazel wandered around, checking out random shops before walking out again. Nico started nibbling on his chocolate. Will shuffled through his bag, bringing out random herbs and tossing them back in.

Then, a large, shaggy black dog ran up to them. "Snuffles!" Nico said, scratching the dog's ears. "What are you doing here?"

"You have a raven _and _a dog?" Will asked. "Seriously?"

"He's not mine," Nico said. "I just found him in the Shrieking Shack. Snuffles, I have some food for you—" Nico started digging around in his bag, where he'd stashed a large amount of sausage and toast from breakfast. He held it out, and Snuffles grabbed it in his mouth, glanced around nervously, and darted off down a side street, heading towards the forest.

"...Okay then," Hazel said.

Nico just shrugged. "Snuffles is like that. He never stays in one spot for long. Speaking of dogs, how did you get here? Mrs. O'Leary?"

"Yeah," Will said. "She's waiting over there somewhere." He nodded towards another section of forest.

"Cool; make sure she gets enough sleep afterwards, though," Nico reminded him.

Will smiled. "I'm a _doctor, _Sunshine. I'll take care of your dog."

"She's Percy's dog, not mine," Nico corrected.

Will just smirked.

Hazel checked her watch. "Well, I think you should head to Honeydukes now."

Nico nodded. "I will. Just one more thing: any news on Leo?"

Hazel shook her head. "We've informed Camp Half-Blood; but Leo hasn't arrived yet. Someone'll IM you if anything happens."

Nico nodded. "Great. Just saying...I doubt he's alive. It may just be Festus."

"I'm sure that Leo'll find a way back," Will said evenly. "If any demigod can, it's Leo."

Nico knew that. Even so...he and Hazel had _sensed _Leo's death. But if they'd picked up Festus' signal, that meant that someone must have repaired him...and Nico doubted anyone but Leo would know what to do with the bronze dragon.

"Well, I said one more thing. Bye Will, Hazel," Nico said.

"C'ya, Nico," Will said.

Hazel gave Nico a hug—which surprised Nico. Awkwardly, he hugged her back. "Bye, Nico," she said.

Nico smiled. "Bye. Off to have more crazy adventures at Hogwarts."

Will gave Nico a stern look as he began walking towards Honeydukes. "No crazy stunts for Halloween," he said. "Doctor's orders!"

Nico nodded, and, still smiling, found his way towards Honeydukes. The shop was almost empty; Nico gathered some of the late-afternoon shadows around himself and snuck in. He didn't want to be seen, especially if he'd have to find a secret passageway. Will would forgive him for that small bit of Underworld magic.

A few minutes later, the door swung open of its own accord. Harry had arrived.

Nico stepped out of the shadows. "So, where's the secret passageway?"

"Merlin's beard, di Angelo!" Harry said, surprised. "How'd you sneak up on me like that?"

Nico gave him a cold, creepy smile. "You're not the only one with tricks, Potter."

"Huh. Well, the passageway's in the basement. There's a trapdoor built into the floor," Harry said.

"Underground. My favorite place," Nico said. "This will be fun."

And so Nico followed Harry into the basement.

* * *

**Harry's PoV**

Nico was back to his usual self. Harry was partly relieved—he hadn't known exactly what to think of the new, cheerful Nico that had shown himself earlier that day—around his friends, Nico was a completely different person. Harry was glad that the guy had friends, of course—but right after Harry had started to get a sense of Nico's moods, he'd seen a completely new part of Nico's personality. Why was he so _unpredictable? _Sometimes he was nice (or at least polite) to Harry, and other times Nico was an inch away from using his sword on him.

And then there was the boggart—and the odd dreams. For the hundredth time that day, Harry studied the boy walking next to him, wondering: _Who exactly is Nico di Angelo?_

Nico hadn't spoken since they'd entered the passageway. He was no longer acting angry or annoyed, or cheerful and honestly a bit hyper. Nico seemed..._reserved_, almost shy, like he was worried that Harry was about to start asking questions.

And honestly? Harry _was _tempted to take out his wand and start asking away: Where had Nico's friends come from? What had happened last night, with the dreams? And the boggart? And most important of all—_who was Nico's father?_

Harry had meant it when he'd said that Nico maybe wasn't that bad, after all. But now, in the dark passageway, thinking of all that had happened, he wasn't so sure. He'd taken off the Invisibility Cloak in the safety of the passageway; and was consulting the Marauder's Map—carefully not letting Nico see exactly what it was. But Harry had some questions.

"Nico?"

"What?" Nico responded quickly—which reinforced Harry's suspicions that Nico had been tense, nervous about being questioned.

"Last night. Do you know what happened?"

"No, Potter. I don't." Nico continued walking, keeping his gaze fixed on the tunnel ahead.

Harry decided to try again. "Er...would you mind explaining what I saw in the boggart? And the dream?"

Nico sighed. "I can't tell you everything. It would put all of us in danger. But I'll try to clear the air a little."

Harry waited. "I'm listening," he said.

"My sister left me when I was ten. She joined a...a club, you may call it. Where I wouldn't be allowed. And then, she just _left._" Nico shook his head. "She volunteered for a mission, a quest. And...she didn't get out of that with her life."

Nico wouldn't meet Harry's eyes. There was something he wasn't saying about Bianca...didn't get out of that _with her life_?...but Harry couldn't put his finger on it.

"In the boggart...the wasteland, the jar...what was that about? And who was the angel—"

"Cupid is _not _an angel," Nico snarled. "He's awful—he's a jerk, and a bully, and—you know why, I really don't want to talk about him."

"_Cupid? _I thought Cupids were those little—"

"You _think_ a lot of things," Nico said quietly.

Harry stopped talking—something about Nico's tone made Harry want to curl into a ball and hide.

"As I said," Nico continued in a normal tone of voice—still quiet, but not with that hard, cold note— "I can't explain it all. It would be risking _your_ safety. But I was imprisoned in the wasteland, and the jar—I almost died. I never want to be trapped like that again."

Harry didn't know what to say to that. "Is...is that what you see, when the dementors are around?"

Nico nodded. "Those, and other memories. Bianca. My mother. And..."

Harry waited.

Nico stopped talking. Harry could feel him retreating, closing up. "Nothing. How long until we arrive?"

"Not too long. Maybe fifteen minutes?" Harry answered. He knew Nico had changed the topic; but he'd been through a lot—even more than Harry. Somehow, Harry knew now that he'd been wrong—Nico certainly wasn't like any wizard Harry had ever encountered, even Voldemort, but he wasn't evil. Harry didn't exactly trust him, and he certainly didn't trust his father—Nico may still not have Harry's best interests at heart. But Harry couldn't hate the guy—not anymore.

Nico nodded, then continued walking in silence. He really was completely different without his friends around—and he seemed much happier when they _were _around. Maybe if he had more friends at Hogwarts...

_No, _Another part of Harry said. _You can be nice to Nico, but you can't_ _be friends. Not yet._

The two walked in silence the rest of the way to Hogwarts.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

When Nico walked into the Great Hall, he gasped. The decorations were stunning—giant glowing jack-o-lanterns instead of candles, live bats flying overhead. Ambra would have fun at dinner tonight, that was for sure. Ghosts were everywhere—probably having decided to dine (or at least, hang out) in the Great Hall for Halloween's sake.

Nico, being über spooky, would fit right in. He considered summoning some dancing skeletons just for the heck of it, then remembered Will's warning to not use any Underworld magic.

Spotting Ginny at the Gryffindor table, Nico headed over to sit next to her. Ron, Hermione, and Harry headed towards that area as well. _Harry. _

Nico already felt that he'd said too much—he didn't know why, but he'd let down his guard a little in that tunnel. He'd told Harry about Bianca, even about Tartarus and Cupid, a little. What Harry would do with that information...Nico didn't want to know.

"So, how'd it go?" Ginny interrupted his thoughts.

"Pretty well," Nico said. "My sister, the one from California—Hazel—she was there. She brought a friend, Will Solace, from my...uh, summer-camp. We had fun, eating all the chocolate."

Ron glanced over, looking a bit annoyed, but he didn't say anything. Harry and Hermione looked over too; Hermione waved at Nico; Harry nodded curtly.

Nico nodded back before returning his attention to Ginny. "Anyways, I've got a secret."

"What?" Ginny asked, smiling mischievously. "Is it about Harry?"

"Yup," Nico said. "He was there too, in his invisibility cloak. He told me not to tell anyone, but..."

Ginny snorted. "Come on. Ron told me all about it already."

"Oh, that's good," Nico said. "Anyways, he showed me a secret passageway so I could avoid passing the dementors."

"I _knew_ you two could get along," Ginny said triumphantly.

"Well...we're not exactly _friends,_" Nico said. "Just not trying to kill each other, or anything."

"Still an improvement."

"True, that," Nico said. "Okay, I'm not much of a food person, but I've just got to say: this Hogwarts food is _really _good."

Ginny nodded. "That's the best part, for Ron, anyways."

Nico glanced over at the red-head; he indeed seemed to be enjoying his food. "You don't say."

Ginny snickered; Nico decided that she really was a pretty good friend. He'd started making those since the Giant War—even if he didn't know it. Hazel, Jason, Reyna, Will...and now Ginny and Luna. And Percy...maybe Nico should tell him, at some point. Percy and Annabeth hadn't ever hated him. Although Nico found it annoying that Annabeth had to be so nice, at times. Why couldn't she be a brat, so Nico could hate her? It would be easier that way.

After the feast, the students paraded back upstairs to the Gryffindor tower—or at least, the Gryffindors did. A crowd had gathered outside the portrait, which confused Nico. "Why aren't they going in?"

Percy Weasley strode through the crowd. "Let me through please—What's the holdup here? You can't have all forgotten the password—excuse me, I'm Head Boy—"

Then, the crowd fell silent. Nico wondered what was going on—probably something horrible, considering his luck. Percy's voice again: "Somebody get Professor Dumbledore. Quick."

"What's going on?" asked Ginny, behind Nico. Nico just shrugged; even though he hated it, he had no clue what had happened.

Soon afterwards, Professor Dumbledore arrived, and Nico moved closer to see what was going on—as did Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"Oh my—" Hermione, shocked, grabbed Harry's arm. Nico shared her surprise. _What the Hades happened here?_

The Fat Lady was gone; her portrait was shredded to bits, chunks of canvas missing—some on the floor, some seeming to have disappeared into thin air.

Professor Dumbledore, meanwhile, looked at the portrait, before turning to see Professors McGonagall, Lupin, and Snape rushing towards him. "We need to find her," the headmaster said. "Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr. Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady."

"You'll be lucky!" Peeves the Poltergeist cackled, hovering over the scene.

"What do you mean, Peeves?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

Peeves didn't dare to openly tease the headmaster; but that didn't mean he'd tell. "Ashamed, your Headship, sir," he said in an oily voice. "Doesn't want to be seen. She's a horrible mess. Saw her running—"

"Peeves," Nico snapped. The poltergeist looked at him. "Tell the headmaster who did it," Nico ordered in a quiet, dangerous tone.

Peeves paled, before saying: "He—he got angry when she wouldn't let him in—Sirius Black. Nasty temper, he's got—that one."

* * *

**Author's Notes: Alright, rereading House of Hades, Nico is supposed fourteen now—oh well, Nico. You are now a year younger. There's some debate over his age; but in Mark of Athena and House of Hades, it says he's fourteen. Oh well.**

**EDIT: He jumped from 12-14 in canon. Rick made a tiiiinnny mistake—though he said that "Percy didn't know Nico's age. He was just guessing." Or something like that. So yeah, he's 13. Fits right in! Haha...not really but—**

**Sorry this took so long. If you've noticed, I'm loosely following the original Prisoner of Azkaban's chapter layout. **

**Also: about coronavirus, or COVID-19. I hope everyone stays safe and healthy—if any of you/someone you know has it, I hope they get well soon! Stay safe, everyone. (Wash your hands, wear masks, etc. etc.)**


	9. Nico Discovers a Secret

**Rising From Shadowed Ashes**

**GreenCrystal19**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Heroes of Olympus; they belong to respective authors; J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan. Cover art by Viktoria Ridzel (Viria/viria13/vika) as usual. Her art is amazing; she is now the official portrait artist.**

* * *

**Author's Notes: OKAY FIRST SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT! Second: HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT! #DisneyAdaptPercyJackson, Rick Riordan's project started by the fans, has graduated to #PercyJacksonDisney+! THERE WILL BE A LIVE-ACTION TV SERIES OF THE FIRST 5 BOOKS. VISIT RICK RIORDAN'S TWITTER FOR MORE INFO.**

**Now that that exciting info is out—I have now created a YouTube channel and a page on ArtStreet (as well as DeviantArt but there my username is GreenCrystal2019)! Feel free to check those out! Yes, there will be fanart! **

**EDIT: I am mainly gonna use Deviant (GreenCrystal2019) and YouTube. Also I drew Nico. :3 EDIT AGAIN: I feel like Nico's kinda sucks now, but FINE I'LL LEAVE IT UP FOR THE FANFIC'S SAKE.**

**The last big announcement: I have decided to include Trials of Apollo events after all. It has been revealed that Nico and Will will play a large role in Tower of Nero, and so I kind of have to include that, as Nico and Will's characters and situations might change quite a bit. Leo's arrival as well as basically everything involving Nico will be a bit different. ToA 1 takes place in the middle of January, so PoA will be farther along by then. Also: Nico will probably not be present for his scenes in ToA 1. So yay.**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Nico Discovers a Secret**

**Harry's PoV**

Harry, Ron and Hermione were in the corner of the Great Hall, tucked in their sleeping bags, when Nico appeared, seemingly out of nowhere—he blended into the shadows way too well.

Hermione had just asked whether Harry and Ron thought Sirius was in the castle; Ron had replied that obviously, Dumbledore thought so.

Nico apparently had overheard, as he said: "Actually...he's probably left. If I were on a stealth mission and was discovered, I'd try to leave as soon as possible—not stick around for a fight."

Harry narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "How come you know so much about sneaking into places?" he asked. Nico still had a lot to answer for—why had Peeves listened to him, rather than Dumbledore? "And why did Peeves—"

"Quite over there!" Percy Weasley said, glancing in their direction. He'd been appointed to guard the entrance—and keep an eye on the students, no doubt.

The four of them stopped talking. Percy looked away.

"I've had _experience_, Harry," Nico continued, in a whisper. "Haven't you? Ginny said you saved the school—_twice._"

That was true, although stealth wasn't exactly Harry's strong suit. Nico, with his shadow abilities, was a much better candidate. In fact...could Nico have been working with Sirius?

Harry lingered on that thought for a while, before dismissing it. If Sirius was after him, Nico could have easily killed him by now. _He has tried... _a small voice said in the back of Harry's mind. _Shut up, _he told it.

"It's very lucky he picked tonight, you know," Hermione said quietly, once again breaking the silence. "The one night we weren't in the tower..."

Ron added: "I reckon he's lost track of time, being on the run. Otherwise he'd have come bursting in here."

"Perhaps not," Nico said. "Again, he may have been on a _stealth mission. _Gathering info before making his move. If he really was a follower of You-Know-Who, his goal may not be to eliminate you, Harry."

Harry stared at Nico. What was he going on about now? "Of _course _Sirius' goal is to kill me! Voldemort's tried twice already!"

"Names have power," Nico said, catching Harry off guard. "I may have said his name a few times—and you definitely have. And now Sirius has attacked. You shouldn't throw names around—it can...attract attention. At least...where I'm from."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Well, we're in Britain, not _where you're from. _I think we're fine."

Nico paused, thinking it through, then said slowly, "I suppose. There's not a spell for that?"

Hermione thought for a moment. "There may be one," she said. "But I doubt that You-Know-Who has the power or time to cast it."

"And stop changing the subject, di Angelo," Harry said. "Why'd Peeves listen to you?"

Nico did the cold smile again. "I have...let's say, a _way _with spirits. Just my style, I suppose."

"A way with the Dark Arts," Hermione noted, giving Nico a pointed look. "As well as what your _Will Solace_ calls _shadow travel._"

"If you hate it so much," Nico snarled quietly, "why didn't you bring it up before?"

"_Because_, I try to maintain some form of _manners_," Hermione said. Harry and Ron exchanged a glance—they knew better. Hermione wasn't always polite. But she continued: "I wasn't about to question it in front of your friends." Nico opened his mouth, but Hermione had even more to say: "_And_, _Nico di Angelo_, that was the _one time _I've seen you even try to enjoy yourself, and I wasn't about to ruin it! You've been walking around Hogwarts essentially _complaining_ about how awful your life is. Almost everything you do _screams _of self-pity."

Nico's eyes blazed. "I _never_—"

Hermione finished his sentence. "—said anything, but that doesn't mean you haven't been doing it! Don't you realize that other people have problems too? You don't need to be so dramatic!"

Nico glared at Hermione for several second, before saying: "Just when I thought you could've been a friend. Of course you'd—all of you—_none _of you could ever understand what I've been through, couldn't ever—I've almost _died _helping others! Even if I—" He stopped mid-sentence, sliced his hand through the air, and dissolved into shadows, leaving a chill and three stunned students in his wake.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

Nico had broken his promise. But right now, he didn't particularly care.

Hermione had just—she'd just...Nico had begun to trust her. She'd never been quite so bad as the other two, even if her bossy attitude and extreme intelligence had annoyed—even scared—Nico.

He couldn't believe she'd just—it seemed impossible that...

...that she'd openly stated things about Nico that he had never dared to think about.

There was truth to what she'd said.

Was Nico blinded by self-pity? Not exactly...he'd still put aside his own burden to help in the Titan and Giant Wars. But...when there wasn't a war to fight...maybe he really _did _dwell on his problems too much, really was blinded by the sorrow of his past, so he couldn't see the joy in his future.

_I enjoyed Hogsmeade so much. I didn't think about...well, any of it. All this time I've been trying to distance myself, to carry my past alone. But...maybe Jason was right. _Hazel, Will, Reyna—even Ginny and Luna. None of them hated Nico—they all seemed to genuinely like him.

Nico walked through the darkened halls of Hogwarts quietly, dodging any ghosts or teachers nearby. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he almost leaped out of his skin when he felt something large and furry brush his leg.

"_Snuffles? _What in Hade's name are you doing here?"

The black dog had been walking—no, _running_, by the way he whirled around and seemed so shocked to see Nico there. The son of Hades was certain that the dog, with his superior senses of hearing and smell, plus night-vision, should have been able to see him walking down the hall. Unless...unless Snuffles was trying to get out of the castle, trying not to be seen.

A crazy idea came to mind. _If I were on a stealth mission and was discovered, I'd try to leave as soon as possible...__he may have been on a stealth mission...Gathering info before making his move. _

Snuffles was watching Nico closely, his large black ears pricked up. Watching, almost as though he knew what Nico was thinking, knew what was going on. Almost as though he, too, spoke the language of humans...or was one. _They have magic; of course they could shape-shift...what were we learning about in class? Anami? No. Animagi._

"Are you...are you Sirius Black?" Nico asked the dog.

Slowly, "Snuffles" nodded.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

Nico ran down the dark hallways, following Snuffles—no, _Sirius Black. _He couldn't believe it—he'd discovered him, the first and only known escapee of Azkaban prison. But—so many questions! Nico had been undefended near Sirius; in the Shrieking Hut. Sirius could have killed him, but hadn't—even so, he knew _so much_ already. Nico had thought he'd been speaking to a dog, a creature with no plots of ill-intentions like murdering the chosen one and bringing evil wizards back from near-death.

But nooooo. Of course _Nico_ would be the one demigod to get chucked into a wizarding madhouse, to find the wizard who'd killed thirteen—_walking around Hogwarts essentially complaining about how awful your life is...everything you do screams of self-pity._

And Hermione. Nico would...he'd _have _to talk to her! If anyone at Hogwarts could figure this mess out, it was her.

Sirius was escaping. He ran faster then Nico, being a dog—he'd probably had a lot of practice, running from the law.

_Does Voldemort know about me? Was Sirius spying on me this whole time? "Gathering info?"_

The thought made Nico sick. If the demigod camps were in danger, if he lost Will, and Hazel, and Reyna—_NO. I _will _catch him. _Nico paused, closed his eyes. He thought of all of the shadows in the dark halls of Hogwarts, all of the power. Nico imagined drawing it in, using it, becoming nothing but a swift, silent shadow.

And then he ran.

Somehow, Nico managed catch up with Snuf—Sirius. He was too focused on the chase to realize that, "oh wow, I just found a new ability!" No. He had to stop Sirius, or at least find answers. Harnessing some convenient ropes from the darkness, Nico willed them to lash around the black canine in front of him.

So-called "Snuffles" tripped, snarling, but somehow managed to break free. But at that point, Nico had his sword drawn and pointed at the dog's face. Normally, he'd be nicer—after all, Nico did like dogs—but Sirius was a murderer. He worked for Voldemort, the most evil wizard of all time, had possibly tried to kill Harry—who, annoying as he was, _had _saved lives and didn't deserve to die—and had probably been passing info about Nico and the demigods on to Voldemort. Info that could, in the wrong hands, get Nico and his friends—there, he'd said it—killed.

"You've got a lot to answer for," Nico snapped.

Sirius gave him a skeptical look, like: _Nico. Let's be serious. Wizard or not, dogs can't talk. Now, let me go, and don't waste your time chasing me._

Nico glared at him. "Transform, and then we'll talk."

What with the deadly sword in his face, Sirius didn't have any other options. Faster then Nico could track, Sirius went from dog to human in less than a second.

Sirius had black hair, but that was about the only thing that aligned with Nico's expectations. He'd been expecting some cackling, evil madman with slicked-back hair or whatever modern villains had.

But Sirius did not look like he was in good shape. As a dog he'd been thin and his fur had been matted, but his hair as a human was even _more _tangled and matted—which Nico found a bit backwards. His face was gaunt, his skin waxy; his teeth weren't in great shape either; they were yellow and looked even worse than Charybdis; apparently wizards on the run didn't have much time for hygiene. His eyes sunken and dark, like he'd depths of Tartarus—like the eyes that greeted Nico every time he looked in a mirror.

"So, I assume you're going to ask why I want to kill Harry." Sirius stated it matter-of-factly; his expression wasn't just blank: it was disinterested, weary, as though he'd been trying to get someone to see was obvious, but they just wouldn't listen.

Nico hesitated. Why didn't he seem...more panicked at being caught? He didn't seem evil—Nico had encountered enough of that to know. Refocusing, Nico said: "Tell me everything. _Now._"

Sirius opened his mouth, but a voice Nico recognized spoke behind him. "_Nico? _What are you _doing?_"

Nico whirled. _No. Please, not now. Not now. Please—Gods of Olympus, not now. _

Harry stood behind him, a look of stunned disbelief on his face. "Is that—is that _Sirius Black?!_"

Taking advantage of Nico's moment of distraction, Sirius shifted into his canine form and ran straight at Harry.

Harry ducked, but Sirius didn't pause—he continued running straight down the hallway. Nico watched him go. The exhaustion from all of that "Underworld-y stuff" as Will put it washed over him. Nico wouldn't have enough energy to pursue. The chase was over. But the night, crazy as it had been, was just beginning.

Nico turned to face Harry. "I can explain."

"You'd _better_, di Angelo," Harry said, his eyes cold slabs of jade. "Or you _and _Sirius will be taken to the dementors—whether you like it or not."

* * *

**Author's Notes: Well, _that_ happened. I have no idea what I've done, honestly. This was NOT written into my plan. It just happened, LOL. Well, I hope I'll be able to update soon! I've forgotten how fun this is. Prepare to return to another chapter of "Nico and Crystal Completely Butcher the Plot!" Until then, feel free to visit my corners of DeviantArt and YouTube! See you guys later!**

**P.S. A little note. What I made Hermione say does have some truth to it, even in canon. Nico's fatal flaw, as well as holding grudges, does seem to have a bit to do with self-pity. Everyone falls into that hole sometimes. Hope that wasn't too deep for anyone, LOL.**


	10. The Grim Watches Quidditch

**Rising From Shadowed Ashes**

**GreenCrystal19**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Heroes of Olympus; they belong to respective authors; J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan. Cover art by Viktoria Ridzel (Viria/viria13/vika) as usual. Her art is amazing; she is now the official portrait artist.**

* * *

**Author's Notes: Yay! I seem to be getting back to my normal update schedule. For those of you who have not seen my edits to last chapter's author's notes, I will mostly be found on YouTube and DeviantArt. Note that my Deviant Art username is GreenCrystal2019, and is not shortened to 19. Also: I kinda drew Nico and stuck the speedpaint on YouTube. Hope I won't regret that...**

**EDIT: I regret it.**

**Read the description/pinned comment please. It explains why I used copyrighted music and discovered copyright claims.**

* * *

**Chapter 10: The Grim Watches Quidditch**

**Nico's PoV**

Nico listened carefully as the sound of footsteps receded down the halls.

He sighed in relief, before immediately tensing back up again.

He'd hid in one of Hogwarts' broom cupboards.

With one Harry Potter.

Because Professor Snape had turned the corner; and Nico and Harry had had to run for cover. Annoyingly, Harry stayed right on Nico's tail.

And so, as Harry stared, Nico held his breath, waiting for the impending interrogation to proceed and wondering if, somehow, he could wiggle his way out of this situation. He doubted it.

"So?" Harry said, bring out his wand and muttering under his breath: "_Lumos."_

Nico flinched slightly; what with his night-vision, he hadn't needed more wanted such a bright light in his face. Blinking away the afterimage, the part of him that had lived in the Hermes cabin decided that if he must tell Harry what had happened, he'd do it in the most suspenseful, annoying way possible.

"So. Sirius Black. Basically, I found this dog—" Nico cut himself off and smirked. "I should probably start at the beginning." He paused for a long moment. "I'm not going to start at the beginning. So, I gave the dog some food—"

Harry was glaring at him. "_What _exactly does this have to do with Sirius Black? Just tell me what happened!"

"Do you want the short story or the long?"

"_Nico! _JUST—TELL—ME—WHAT—YOU—DID!"

Suppressing a laugh, Nico decided he should actually be serious. Besides, their lives could be at risk. "He's an animagus."

Harry blinked. "What?"

"An animagus. A shapeshifter. He can turn into a black dog at will." Rolling his eyes, Nico added: "Even I know that, Potter."

Harry didn't respond to Nico's insult. Looking over, Nico saw that he looked pale. "The Grim," he said. "Near my uncle's house. Sirius was—"

"—keeping an eye on you, apparently. Anyways, that's probably how he's been getting around without being caught."

Harry's eyes narrowed. "How come you just happened to find him, Nico?"

Nico shrugged. "Coincidence, I suppose. Thing is, I'd seen him before; and thought he was just a normal dog. I wasn't joking about that. When I realized who he was, I managed to corner him in the corridors; I was _about _to question him. Before I was interrupted."

Harry blinked. "Hey! To me it just looked like—"

"I know." Nico cut him off, before continuing: "We have a problem, though. Sirius has...heard some things. As I said, I thought he was just a dog. I wasn't being careful about what I said around him. He definitely needs to be caught."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Because he overheard you, or because he wants to kill me?"

Nico hesitated. "Harry...I don't know what he wants. He's been around me long enough to kill me; I was off-guard. An easy target. And yet...I'm still here."

"Because you're working with him."

"I am _not, Potter_! You saw for yourself; he didn't try to get to you at all just now."

"He must've heard Professor Snape coming! He's killed _thirteen __people_, di Angelo! Black's mad!"

Nico paused. "As I said, he does need to be caught. But not by the Ministry. By us."

Harry's jaw dropped. "_What?! _Are you mental?!"

The ghost of a smile flickered across Nico's face. "Probably. But dementors will—they won't wait for answers. If Black's truly working for Voldemort, he might be part of a bigger plan. We need to catch him, and get him to reveal that plan...or his...true motives. Only _then _can we pass judgement. Because I doubt the dementors would give him a fair trial."

"Why does he _deserve _fairness, Nico!?" Harry nearly shouted.

Nico paused for a long moment. Then, softly: "Everybody deserves to be judged fairly. For what they've done, not who they are."

Of course, there was more to that then Nico was letting on. He decided to let Harry figure it out.

"The school won't notice us missing for a few hours yet. In the meantime..." Nico gave Harry a cold smile. "You and I have a murderer to catch.

* * *

**Harry's PoV**

Harry didn't trust Nico. Not one bit.

The teenager led Harry on a crazy marathon through Hogwarts and around the ground...although Nico took great care to stay far, far away from the school's entrances. Which Harry had no problem with; he didn't like dementors any more than Nico did.

Nico, whatever else he was, was _fast. _Harry was well-known for his speed and agility—his training with Dudley had certainly worked it's magic. But Merlin's beard! Nico was faster, and over the next few hours, he certainly put Harry's skills to the test.

Eventually, despite his most valiant efforts, Harry couldn't keep it up any longer. He stopped panting, and braced his hands against his knees. "Can we...stop for a...few minutes?"

Nico looked over from the mile or two he'd ran as Harry stopped. "WHAT?" he shouted.

Harry knew perfectly well that Nico could hear him. He glared at him, still tired.

In a flash, Nico ran back over to Harry, seeming very pleased with himself at beating the Big Who Lived...again.

Nico unsheathed (unringed?) his sword and started casually swing it through the air, almost giving Harry a nice haircut...starting at his neck.

"Watch it!" Harry snapped.

"Hmm?" Nico proceeded to swing the sword in full loopty-loops, before: "So, ready to run another ten, twenty miles? Black's not gonna wait for us!"

Harry gritted his teeth. "I swear to Gryffindor, I am going to _murder you_," he muttered under his breath.

"Good luck with that," Nico said, shooting off like a bullet. "You'd better keep up!"

Already, he was a shadow on the horizon.

Sighing, an exhausted Harry Potter followed.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

They didn't find Sirius. He'd seemed to have disappeared into thin air—and who knew? Maybe he had.

On the plus side, Nico had had fun running Harry until he dropped.

Okay, he hadn't actually collapsed or anything, but the Boy Who Lived was still flopped on his purple sleeping bag, snoring away. He wouldn't be waking up anytime soon.

Nico would feel bad for him when school started in a few hours...

Or not.

Shadow traveling back into the Great Hall had been tricky, both because Nico couldn't be seen, and because Nico himself was pretty tired. Not from running, necessarily, but from his previous "Underworld-y activity."

_Will is going to kill me_, Nico thought as his head hit the pillow (read: aviator jacket). Already, the Son of Hades was fast asleep.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

Over the next few days, the Hogwarts students gossiped like they'd never gossiped before. All Nico heard day in and day out was Sirius, Sirius, Sirius. Which was even more annoying than it would seem, because no matter what happened, Nico himself could not find "Snuffles" or his human counterpart anywhere. He even tried leaving food near the edge of the Forbidden Forest and lying in wait, but it seemed that Sirius Black was laying low... and that he also regarded Nico as an enemy, or at least, someone who couldn't be trusted.

The first Quidditch match if the year was also coming up. Malfoy was _still _pretending to be injured; the Gryffindor team would be playing against Hufflepuff rather than Slytherin. Nico wondered why they couldn't just replace Malfoy with another player. Probably because the Slytherins couldn't risk his dignity.

During classes, Nico even put in some effort to learn a bit of Wizarding magic. (Although he still mostly lurked in the corner during Professor Lupin's classes.) He was decent at very basic charms such as _Lumos_ (though he seldem used it) and _wingardium leviosa._

Hermione was throwing herself into her studies; although she didn't look too good. Nico hadn't forgotten that Arithmancy class refererence—and Hermione continued to mix classes up and mention classes she hadn't even been to. Nico got a glimpse of her schedule; unless he was hallucinating, she had multiple classes in one time slot; Nico could've sworn he saw three classes scheduled for the one slot.

When he asked about it, Hermione whisked away her schedule and told him to mind his own business; in turn, Nico had glared at her and said that maybe _she _should mind _her _own business; he'd also said that she had been just as bad as Trelawney to Nico, pointing out all his flaws, and that maybe she should just go back to her crazy, chaotic schedule and be the know-it-all everyone said she was.

He may have said more, but Ginny came over and dragged him away, before giving him a stern lecture about what had happened in Harry's first year when Ron had started criticizing Hermione. Nico didn't particularly care, but Ginny added that Hermione was her friend as well, so Nico agreed to leave her alone and apologize (though he planned on prolonging that apology for as long as possible).

But that wasn't enough, was it? Noooooo.

In addition to barely having enough time to look for Sirius himself, Nico also could hardly ever compare notes with Harry. He'd persuaded the wizard to not mention the events of the night to either Hermione or Ron until they learned more; as the two would most likely spend all of their free time tailing Nico; or worse, tell one of the adult magicians. Of course, that turned out to be Nico's downfall: Harry Potter, Boy Who Lived, was under close watch by... well, _everyone._

Since Sirius had made it into the castle, Harry was being constantly followed by either a teacher, prefect (usually Percy Weasley), or occasionally a ghost. Harry was just as annoyed as Nico was... and Harry's guards were just as suspicious of Nico as they were of Sirius.

To make matters worse, Professor Snape had subbed for Professor Lupin the day before the match. Apparently Lupin wasn't feeling well. Although Nico wasn't particularly sorry for him.

During the D.A.D.A. class, Professor Snape—despite the classes' protests—skipped nearly to the end of Lupin's plans, lecturing the class on were-wolves. He, too, called Hermione a know-it-all. It was a rough week for the young witch, apparently.

Nico wasn't particularly happy with Snape's choice of topic either—bad experiences—nor the essay he'd given at the end of class—two rolls of parchment. Nico didn't even know how much that was—he was using a black notebook and pen. Like any self-respecting demigod ought to do. _Or_ wizard, for that matter.

It definitely was a busy week.

And so, Nico and Harry had found no new leads by the morning of the first Quidditch match. It was a gray, stormy day; the rain was so thick that Nico could barely see in front of him. He found a seat as low as possible in the stands—which wasn't very low, as no one wanted to be in the top rows—especially Nico. Zeus was not in a pleasent mood that day. Fortunately, Nico managed to grab a seat near the middle. Unfortunately, he was forced to sit next to Hermione Granger...and, as he'd mentioned, Nico hadn't forgotten that rant she'd given him.

He had indeed been trying to enjoy himself, though—he had no choice, with all of the things he'd been doing. Will would kill Nico—again—if the son of Hades died from stress.

Nico huddled under the hood of his wizard's robes, which were over his aviators jacket, which was over his black t-shirt, which was over—wait. He's forgotten the other ten layers of water-proof gear. The ones he didn't have. But even with three layers, Nico was still cold and shivering by the time the match started.

Lee Jordan, a dark-skinned boy from Gryffindor house, was providing the matches' commentary. Being a member of one of the two teams, he was a bit biased. He also tended to get distracted and make remarks about various girls from either teams. Nico did not find that interesting in the least. Although he certainly wasn't going to say so: he doubted that the school had forgotten his experience with the boggart, and he certainly didn't want to remind them.

It seemed to be a tough match. Nico didn't understand Quidditch, but he did know that Harry was zooming around in the sky, and he didn't seem to be able to see very well. Glasses weren't the best thing to have in the rain. At one point, the referee, Madam Hooch, called a time out; Hermione ran down from the stands and did something to Harry's glasses. He flew much better after that. Lightning flashed, and suddenly, Nico saw something that chilled his blood: in another one of the Gryffindor stands, a few of the top rows were empty. And in one of those rows sat a large, black dog.

Sirius Black was watching Quidditch.

Nico jumped to his feet. Ron started and looked at him. "I've got to go," Nico said shortly.

Ron followed his gaze; seeing the dog, his eyes widened. He grabbed Hermione and said something to her about the Grim, but Nico was long gone by then.

Finally reaching the bottom of his stand, Nico was about to go climbing up onto the one he'd seen Sirius on top of. But then, Nico's blood turned to ice. The memories were coming for him, coming, coming, coming. A darkness he could not stop; could not control. One he may just become lost to.

Nico blinked. _No! Fight it! Think about Will, or Hazel; seeing them at Hogsmeade! _It worked for a moment. Blinking, Nico looked up. Sirius was gone. He cursed and scanned the Quidditch pitch, but Nico couldn't seem to find Sirius Black anywhere. He looked back down, and that's when he saw one of the most horrifying things he'd ever seen—which was something, since Nico has been to the pits of Tartarus itself. (Or himself. Tartarus, unfortunately, needed to be an actually entity as well as a place.) _DON'T THINK ABOUT—_

Too late. Dementors swarmed the stands, hundreds of them, many more than Nico remembered seeing at the Hogwarts entrance. The last thing Nico remembered seeing before the memories came, roling over him like a turbulent sea, was Harry falling off his broom, down, down, down toward the waves of darkness below.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

Nico woke up to a stark, white room. He was in a bed. With the white curtains partially drawn.

_Ohhhh_, Nico thought. _I am in the Hospital Wing._

Sitting up, Nico looked around. Yup. Definitely a Hospital Wing.

Glancing to his right, Nico saw that Harry was a few beds down. _Right. Because he fell off his broom, _Nico remembered, pushing away the... _darker _memories. He'd been _this close _to catching Sirius... before his chance was lost. Swept away in a sea of dementors, along with Nico's consciousness.

Also with Harry (though they weren't in beds) were Ron, Hermione, and the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team. Nico couldn't help but notice that no one had come to visit him. Nico cut off that train of thought, as he had more important things to address (_not _because he was thinking about what Hermione had said!). Nico cleared his throat. "Well, we survived. Now what?"

Most of the team was too busy talking to notice him.

"Lucky the ground was so soft."

"I thought he was dead for sure."

"But he didn't even break his glasses."

"That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life."

_Haha_, Nico thought with weak humor. _Then you're lucky. _

Ron and Hermione didn't respond to his earlier comment; they just looked at him, before turning their attention back to Harry. _Gee, thanks, _Nico thought, but he was soon interrupted from further thought: "What happened?" Harry asked.

Fred Weasley responded promptly: "You fell off. Must've been—what—fifty feet?"

"We thought you'd died," a girl—Alicia, Nico believed—said, trembling.

Harry didn't seem to care about that. "But the match! What happened? Are we doing a replay?"

The guy was anything if not passionate about Quidditch, Nico noted.

A long silence, before Harry continued: "We didn't—_lose?_"

"Diggory got the Snitch. Just after you fell. He didn't realize what had happened. When he looked back and saw you on the ground, he tried to call it off. Wanted a rematch. But they win fair and square... even Wood admits it."

None of this made much sense to Nico, but Harry looked devasted. He asked: "Where is Wood?"

Fred—or was it George?—answered. They reminded Nico of the Stoll brothers, a bit. "Still in the showers. We think he's trying to drown himself."

Nico took it back. Compared to Oliver Wood, Harry was hardly passionate about Quidditch...

Or not.

Harry buried his face in his knees, gripping his hair with his hands. Fred grabbed his shoulder, roughly shaking it.

"C'mon, Harry, you've never missed the Snitch before."

"There had to be one time you didn't get it," George added.

"Besides," Nico said, "it's just a game, right?"

Everybody glared at him, before Fred and George continued trying to cheer Harry up. _So much for trying to help people,_ Nico thought.

After a while, the team left the Hospital Wing, herded out by Madam Pomfrey. Only Ron and Hermione remained.

Hermione continued telling Harry what happened. "Dumbledore was really angry," she said. "I've never him like that before. He ran onto the field as you fell, waved his wand, and you sort of slowed down before you hit the ground. Then he whirled his wand at the dementors. Shit silver stuff at them. They left the stadium right away... He was furious they'd come into the grounds. We heard him—"

Ron cut her off. "Then they magicked you onto a stretcher," he said, "and walked you up to school with you floating on it. Everyone thought you were..."

Nico just watched. He'd never seen the trio look so crestfallen before; he wasn't sure how to respond; especially since his last remark hadn't gone down so well.

Harry finally asked: "Did someone get my Nimbus?"

Nico assumed that was his broom. Ron and Hermione looked at each other.

"Er—"

"What?" Harry asked, looking back and forth between the two of them.

"Well... when you fell," Hermione said hesitantly, "It got blown away..."

"And?"

"And it hit—it hit—oh, Harry—it hit the Whomping Willow."

Nico had seen the Whomping Willow swat at birds who came too close before; even he knew what it could do.

"And?" Harry asked, his expression full of dread.

"Well, you know the Whomping Willow. It—it doesn't like being hit," Ron said.

"Professor Flitwick brought it back just before you came around," Hermione said in a small voice.

Slowly, she grabbed a bag and dumped a pile of wood splinters and broken twigs onto the bed. The remains of Harry's broomstick, Nico figured.

Madam Pomfrey bustled over and shooed Ron and Hermione out of the Hospital Wing, saying that Harry needed rest, and insisting he stay with her during the rest of the weekend.

She then bustled over to Nico, who watched her expectantly. Madam Pomfrey set an enormous slab of chocolate on the stand next to Nico's bed. Nico looked at the chocolate, then at her. "What...?"

"Eat. You had _quite _the encounter with the dementors." Under her breath, she added: "Dementors, in the _school! _No wonder Albus was furious—" She stopped when she saw Nico looking at her.

Reluctantly, Nico started nibbling the edge of the chocolate. He didn't fancy eating while Madam Pomfrey watched him like a hawk. After a good chunk of the chocolate was gone, Madam Pomfrey insisted on checking over him, and, even though Nico was obviously not injured (at least, not physically), she also insisted he stay overnight, at least. She said he'd transformed into smoke; it had taken them a long time to figure out how to get him to the hospital. Eventually, he'd solidified enough for them to magic him onto a stretcher ASAP, before rushing him to the Hospital Wing and somehow getting him back to a completely solid, if not stable, state.

Nico was pretty shaken up himself; that had been the worst fading episode since the Athena Parthenos.

And one more thing was certain: Sirius Black was back. And Nico had failed to catch him.

The son of Hades would be quite busy that weekend.

* * *

**Author's Notes: Well, I hope you enjoyed that chapter! Feel free to review, and also hop on over to GreenCrystal19 on YouTube to see my speedpaint of Nico! It's... not QUITE how I picture him (he looks too old, for one) and it certainly isn't Viria's art, but I spent many hours on that and I hope you guys enjoy it. Besides, you can always skip to the end or see it at GreenCrystal2019 on DeviantArt. Although I am prioritizing YouTube over Deviant and would like some more views/comments/possibly even likes. Have a nice weekend, ya'll!**

**EDIT: I took Nico down. And thennnnn decided to put him back up. Yay.**


	11. Broken Time

**Rising From Shadowed Ashes**

**GreenCrystal19**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Heroes of Olympus; they belong to respective authors; J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan. Cover art by Viktoria Ridzel (Viria/viria13/vika) as usual. Her art is amazing; she is now the official portrait artist.**

* * *

**Chapter 11: Broken Time**

**Nico's PoV**

Nico had a plan.

It was a stupid, idiotic plan, but it was a plan.

He'd need to compare notes with Harry first; say that he'd spotted Sirius again. Ron and Hermione had seen him as well, though they hadn't recognized his identity. Nico considered fetching them to explain, but decided against it. He needed to begin the next phase of his plan quickly.

"Hey, Harry?" Nico said. Nico was still in the Hospital Wing; though once he talked to Harry, he'd head downstairs for breakfast—and a lot of action.

Harry looked over.

"I saw Sirius at the match. In dog form, at the top of the stands. Ron and Hermione saw him too."

Harry nodded. He didn't seem surprised. "I should really tell Ron and Hermione what happened..."

"_No, _Harry!" Nico snapped. "They can't be—"

"Trusted?" Harry asked. A small smile flickered across his face. "Di Angelo, both of them tolerated all of my adventures last year. It was pretty crazy, but they didn't say a word."

Nico snorted. "You weren't chasing a wanted murderer who could kill you."

Harry nodded. "True."

"Just give me some more time. After this weekend, I'll let you tell them..._if _I find something."

"Fine. But shouldn't I help—?"

"Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let you if her life depended on it."

"True. Well, I guess—" Harry suddenly brightened. "Wait! There _is _a way I can help you!"

Nico raised an eyebrow, waiting.

Harry grabbed a wad of parchment out of the deep pockets of his robes. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he whispered, tappping the parchment with his wand. Nico watched, amazed, as ink slowly appeared on the map, forming a map of Hogwarts. Harry flipped to the Hospital Wing and pointed.

"Look; that's me, and there's you. Over here is Madam Pomfrey, in her office. I could use this to help you find Sirius!"

"Or to find _me?_"

Harry blinked, then realized what Nico meant. "Er—"

Nico snorted. "Whatever. We have more important things to think about." He nodded at the map. "Any clues?"

Harry did a little jump, then began rapidly scanning the map. He's not near the Quidditch Pitch...not in the Forbidden Forest, from what I can see...wait! Here—there's a little path, near the Whomping Willow. Do you think—?"

Nico nodded. "It definitely leads somewhere important. I'll go check it out..._after_ breakfast."

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

Nico enjoyed the luxury of a few minutes not spent worrying about murderers, or schoolwork, or demigod schist. He was currently absorbed in his pancakes, which were currently drowning in maple syrup, Percy style.

Hermione appeared behind him. "So, I'll assume you know about the dog that appeared in the stands."

Nico swallowed, then looked at her. "And?"

"What is it? Where'd it come from?" She crossed her arms. "And _please, _do not agree with Ronald and say its the Grim."

Ron appeared on Nico's other side. "But it _is _the Grim! Harry nearly _died_—"

Hermione glared at him. "He did _not,_" she said. "Dumbledore was there the whole time!"

"But—"

"_Please _stop," Nico said, exasperated. "He's not the Grim."

"_He?" _Hermione asked sharply.

Nico gave her a for look. "Yes, _Hermione. _Snuffles, as I call him, is a boy."

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "You're expecting me to believe that your dog just showed up in the stands?"

_Ha, _Nico thought. _Even _I _don't believe that. _Instead, he said: "Granger, I've got stuff to do. If you want to know about the dog, ask Harry."

He turned and quickly walked away before Hermione or Ron could ask further questions.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

Nico had a problem.

As he stood gazing up at the Whomping Willow, he realized that there wasn't exactly any way he could get past the swinging, lashing branches without being seriously injured. He could hardly see the passage under it; it had taken Nico a whole five minutes to spot it—a small hole amount the roots.

He didn't particularly want to shadow travel, either—after such a big fading episode, he wasn't sure whether he should risk it. In addition, he didn't know the dimensions of the passage either—he could get stuck, or run into walls again. He didn't want that to happen; Nico was well beyond that phase—it'd been _years_ since the last accidental trip to China.

Ambra solved his problem. Nico had developed an even closer relationship with the bird; she was quite talkative, and though she was also headstrong and stubborn, she'd learned how to fetch things for Nico, or take them somewhere. Flapping her huge black wings, she let out a cheerful caw and swooped downwards.

"Ambra, no! That's the—"

Nico stopped short; the tree was frozen, completely still. The raven had dodged the branches and had her talons pressed against a knot against the base of the trunk. "How did you...?"

Ambra cawed. _"Nico!" _She wanted him to hurry.

"Alright, alright." Nico approached wearily, and took a deep breath. "Well, here goes nothing."

He plunged into the dark passageway.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

The tunnel was quite cramped; Nico was glad he hadn't shadow traveled. It was long, twisting and turning; and at one point Nico had to crouch, then even crawl. He was surprised when suddenly, the passageway opened out into a dusty room—a room Nico recognized. He was in the Shrieking Shack.

"How does _this _help?" Nico exclaimed, exasperated.

He'd _been _here already. _But so has Sirius. _Right. Nico glanced around, listening. Nothing.

Quietly, the son of Hades headed upstairs. Bedroom—empty. Leaving the room, Nico continued to search the house, though he doubted Black would've returned after Nico had seen him there. Closet—empty. Bathroom—empty. Kitchen—empty.

Nico sensed no ghosts, nothing at all that would suggest the house was inhabited, by ghost or human or whatever else. He sighed. No new leads. How was he supposed to find _anything?_

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

The Christmas holidays were approaching. Most of the students would leave, and classes would end—giving Nico a clear schedule to hunt around for Sirius Black. However, he wasn't planning on it—Nico had been missing the demigod camps. He intended to pay them a visit—talk to Reyna and Hazel and Will, do some redecorating in the Hades Cabin.

He'd begun designing the place with Annabeth's help, calling on some skeletal workers to help build it. Then he'd left for Camp Jupiter, and apparently Annabeth (or at least, PROBABLY Annabeth) had decided to...ah, _finish the job_, though Nico didn't see it that way. The _interior_ design of the cabin was absolutely disgusting. Nico was not a vampire, thank-you-very-much.

And so, as Nico was finishing up Friday's classes, he was planning on a relatively relaxing Christmas. Until he spotted Hermione Granger standing in a deserted corridor—loaded with Potions supplies—with an odd little necklace, turning the hourglass symbol on it one time.

Nico was about to ask her what that was about, when she...she disappeared. And _then_, a girl—also Hermione—came walking in behind Nico—and her bag was filled with note paper and textbooks this time. "Hi Nico. What are you planning to do during holidays?" she asked, as though nothing odd had happened.

"Well, firstly, I'm going to do some research on hourglass pendents. And teleportation."

Hermione's face morphed into an expression of dread for a split-second, before being replaced by a confused expression. "Nico...are you feeling alright?"

"Hermione. I _saw _you. Does this have something to do with your cramped schedule? The references to classes you didn't even have?"

Hermione's eyes widened. There was no mistaking it—she definitely had a secret. Hermione said nothing; the corridor was completely silent. Nico heard the soft ticking of a clock, the scuttling of a rat nearby. _Tick tick. Scratch scratch scratch._

Finally, Hermione exhaled. "Nico, I swore to Dumbledore not to speak of this—"

"Yeah, but it wasn't on the Styx, was it? Wasn't binding. Besides, I won't tell."

Hermione's eyes narrowed. "Styx...?"

"_Hermione! _Just tell me what's going on!" Nico said, suddenly remembering all of the things Hermione had said about him.

"Fine!" she snapped. "It's a Time Turner. I've been manipulating time—to attend all of my classes. The Ministry gave i—" She came to a stop.

Nico was glaring at her coldly. He had been trapped in the Lotus Casino, the Labyrinth. He'd faced Kronos; been born in a different century. Nico did _not _like the idea of manipulating time. "Manipulating time."

"Er—yes. But don't think I haven't been careful—there are loads of rules. Time travel is dangerous—"

"You _think?!_" Nico snarled. "Granger, how could you even _think _to do this—it's _beyond _dangerous! _I've _experienced it first-hand; I didn't even know what year it was! My sister—" Nico stopped himself; Hermione didn't need to know about Hazel. "That _thing _needs to be destroyed! Safety is more important than all of your classes!"

Hermione's eyes blazed. "As I was _saying, _di Angelo, the Ministry has a lot of rules! You can't be seen by your past or future self; you shouldn't go back more than an hour! I am doing this _with permission!_"

"Well, you need to _stop—_"

"What's going on over here?" Professor Lupin came around the corner.

Nico inhaled, then turned his gaze on him. "Nothing..._Professor,_" he said coldly.

Lupin ignored Nico's pointed remark. "Good. As it turns out, I was actually looking for you. Harry's asked me for lessons on fighting the dementors—I decided to include you as well, if you'd like that. Lessons will start after break."

Nico paused. Knowing how to handle dementors _would_ be nice...but it was _Lupin. _After a long pause, Nico finally managed: "I'll attend. It can't exactly hurt, knowing what to do."

Lupin nodded. "Thank you. I'll need to find something to practice with..." He walked off, muttering to himself under his breath.

Hermione gave Nico one last reproachful look, before hurrying off in the same direction as Lupin. Nico cursed under his breath; he hadn't been done with her. But of course she'd been smart enough to follow a professor, so Nico couldn't continue arguing with her.

Well, that left another mystery for Nico to deal with. Great.

In the meantime, he'd decided to IM Will and Hazel to see if they had any ideas about Sirius.

Heading over to unused girl's bathroom—home to a rather mopey ghost (though she was quite chipper around Nico) and a broken faucet. The faucet, Nico had discovered, would make a perfect spray for an IM, while the prism would make the rainbow. Of course, Nico could work with just the prism, but the mist allowed for a clearer connection.

Nico turned on the faucet and set down the prism in the correct position. Fishing a drachma out of his wizards' robes, he tossed it into the mist and said: "O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering. Show me Will Solace at Camp Half-Blood _and _Hazel Levesque at Camp Jupiter."

He wasn't sure if this would work—a multi-person IM—but, after some static, Will and Hazel appeared in the mist, each sharing their own section—though the IM was a bit fuzzy, like Nico was having connection issues. Probably just the fact that he was calling two separate people.

Anyways, Will was eating dinner. Hazel was reading in bed—the sun had already gone down in CA, apparently, or hadn't yet risen. Nico wasn't good with the whole time zones thing.

"Oh, hi Nico!" Hazel said cheerfully.

Nico ignored her. "Will! Get out of there! I will _not _be seen wearing this uniform!"

Too late. The entire Apollo cabin was staring, and the rest of the camp was joining in. Will blinked, then jumped to his feet. "Um, gotta go! Apollo cabin, just follow the normal routine!"

Nico and Hazel watched as he ran off, finally stopping down in the central green among the cabins. "Well, that was awkward."

"You _think?_" Nico said.

"What'd you IM about?" Hazel asked, getting straight to the point.

"Well, I need some clues. Some ideas."

He began telling them about what had happened, including Hermione's time traveler and the incident at the Quidditch Pitch (which Will was not pleased about).

"Why didn't you bring your Anti-Dementor-Fun-For-Everyone?" he asked.

"Hey! I didn't think they'd come!"

Will sighed. "Fine. As for...Sirius?" Nico nodded. Will continued. "I think you should use that map Harry's found. But also look outside the school grounds, maybe? I mean, if the map only shows the school grounds, it's not exactly helpful."

Hazel nodded. "I agree with Will. I also think that maybe you should some research on Black himself—where'd he come from? Does anyone in the school know him, or may even be helping him?"

Nico noted that. He'd have to do some digging later.

"Anyways, we'll keep out eyes out. Oh, by the way, Leo came back!"

Nico blinked, stunned. "W-what?"

Hazel smiled. "You heard him! Leo didn't even come to Jupiter—the moment he was able to navigate out of the Sea of Monsters—"

"What was he doing in the Sea of Monsters?"

"I got lost! Hey, so I heard you're going to this new sch—oh _wow. _That uniform!" Leo came bouncing into view alongside Will.

"_Leo Valdez!_" Nico nearly shouted. Though he'd never particularly liked Leo (the feeling was mutual; Nico knew that he freaked Leo out) that didn't stop him from being A) excited out of mind to see him alive and safe and B) incredibly annoyed that Leo had scared the schist out of Nico. "Where have you _been? _You scared everyone half to death!"

Leo grinned. "Thanks! Missed you too. And about that—eww, is that a rat?"

Nico glanced behind him. Sure enough, a skinny rat was staring at him from behind one of the stall doors. Nico was fairly certain that it was Ron's rat...Scratcher? no, Scabbers—but dismissed the thought. Ron wouldn't let Scabbers out of his sight, especially with Crookshanks after him. Turning his attention back to Will, Hazel, and Leo, he shrugged. "Eh. As you guys can tell, this school has pretty rotten security. By the way, how come you guys haven't sent any mail?"

Hazel blinked. "Uh...we have?"

"Yeah. I've written like twel—TWO—letters," Will agreed.

"Huh." Nico frowned. "I dunno, then. Maybe the wind spirits are bad at mailing."

"Or someone's been intercepting," Leo said darkly.

Everyone looked at him.

"Hey! I wouldn't do that!" He said, raising his hands up. "I'm too busy, with camp, and Calypso, and all that."

"You found her?" Nico asked.

Leo nodded. "Yeah. Though she didn't do much to stop the entire camp from lining up to hit me."

Nico smirked. "I bet you all enjoyed that."

Will smiled. "Yeah. It was fun."

"Hey!" Leo protested. "Anyhow, maybe you can set some traps to catch this Sirius guy...?"

Nico shook his head. "Nah. He can shift into a dog; he'd be able to sense or escape any traps pretty easily. Anyways, how's the Hades Cabin? Has Annabeth..._fixed _it yet?"

Will shook his head. "Nope. But I have."

Nico blinked, alarmed. "_You? _An Apollo kid? What'd you do, paint it all yellow?"

"Nah," Will said. "I just fixed the curtains, changed the sheets. I even got Leo to make better bedrails, and one of the Athena kids—Malcolm Pace—fix the mattresses. Annabeth was busy designing new cabins."

Nico blinked, impressed. "Wow, Will. That was really nice of you. Those coffin bed thingies were getting annoying. STILL wanna go over there to see for myself. Probably added yellow accents or something."

Leo grinned. "Good, cuz I may have melted down the old railings for scrap. Might leave a lil present."

"Don't—_even_—go there," Nico said.

Hazel smiled, then yawned. "Well, I'm tired. Might as well break this up now."

Nico nodded. "Yeah. It'll be a busy day tomorrow, and I need to get to my next class. I'm probably late already—don't want detention."

The demigods said their goodbyes, and Nico broke the connection before heading off to his next class.

They'd given him down good ideas. He'd check the library (school records, maybe?), Trophy Room, whatever. He might even pop out of Hogwarts and like around in the surrounding areas. But for now, he _really _needed to get to class!

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

It was the Friday before Christmas break—the students would be given the day off, for a visit to Hogsmeade. The Gryffindors were in the Common Room, bundling up for the cold outside—scarfs, gloves, and thick, woolen cloaks were being put on (or at least, put in pockets or bags).

Nico had donned his aviator jacket, black jeans, and black skull T-shirt—the full outfit, minus uniform. Technically, they weren't required to wear uniform during Hogsmeade visits...Nico told himself.

Just in case, he slapped on his cloak. Maybe the professors wouldn't notice his...other accessories.

As he was about to set foot outside the Common Room, Hermione Granger stormed down the stairs to the girl's dormitory, an expression of fury on her face. The remaining Gryffindors—there weren't many—took one look at her and hurried out of the portrait hole, to safer, more peaceful places. Nico was about to do the same before Hermione shouted in a shrill voice: "_Nico di Angelo!_"

He froze, looked at her, and raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

Lowering her voice so only Nico could hear, she said: "You. _Broke. _My Time Turner!" She held out her hand; displaying a broken chain and smashed hourglass.

Nico blinked. Slowly, he raised his eyes to meet Hermione's furious gaze. "That...wasn't me."

Hermione snorted. By this time they were the only two left in the tower; Harry and Ron had left right before Hermione had come downstairs, promising they'd wait in the Entrance Hall. "Of course you did! You said you wanted it destroyed!"

Nico's eyes flared. "Yes. I did. But that doesn't mean I would actually do it! Someone must have overheard—"

"_Who, _Nico?! Lupin? He's a teacher; he would've gone straight to Dumbledore, who would've told him _I had permission! _You're just _determined _to mess up everything—"

"_Me?! _Granger, _I _did not want to be here! I would've gone straight back to New York if your _Ministry of Magic _hadn't forced me to stay so they could 'keep an eye on me!'"

"_Well, obviously you can't be trusted!"_

"I—didn't—break—it!" Nico hissed. "Someone else must have! You _should _focus on who, and why!"

Hermione glared at him, turned on her heel, and stalked out of the Common Room. "I'll be watching you, _Nico di Angelo,_" she said over her shoulder as she left.

Nico stayed silent. One thing was clear: someone had sabotaged Hermione's Time Turner, and as much as Nico wanted to do it, it hadn't been him. But he had a pretty _dam_ good idea of who had. And Nico was going to find him today, if it was the last thing he did.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

Nico didn't go to Hogsmeade that day. Or at least, he didn't stay long.

Breaking his own (and Will's) rules, Nico took a long drink of Will's concoction (it really _did _help) and saved the water bottle in his personal locker of darkness—a useful trick Ambra had taught him. Turns out, she hadn't been putting his items anywhere—just storing them, and taking them out as Nico needed them (or sticking them in the dormitory whenever she was actually going there).

Then, the son of Hades disappeared into the shadows himself.

Voices whispered softly; chills went up Nico's spine. But he ignored it all; Nico knew exactly where he needed to be. He popped out near the end of the secret tunnel, nearly running into Harry.

"Black's been nearby," Nico said shortly. "Check the map. _Now!_"

Harry blinked, stunned into silence.

"_I said, NOW!_" Nico snarled. "This could be our only chance!"

Harry jumped, then opened the map completely. In its entirety, the map was almost as big as Harry.

"I'm...I'm not finding him!" Harry said.

"Try harder!"

"Okay, okay!" Harry narrowed his green eyes, scanning the parchment closely. "_Here. _I can barely see it, but there's a path leading up to...well, it goes off the map, but—"

"_What?"_

"Sirius Black just ran past!"

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

Nico wasted no time. He was gone in an instant. Upon arriving on the path, he stumbled a bit before grabbing the bottle from his storage space and sipping some more of it. Re-energized, Nico twisted his ring, and sword in hand, he ran up the path.

After several minutes, Nico arrived at a mountain cave. He ran inside, and there he was: Snuffles, a.k.a. Sirius Black.

Upon seeing Nico, Sirius transformed and drew his wand. "Stop!" he said. "Not one. More. Step."

Nico froze, glaring at him. He considered attacking—he could handle a few spells. But then he remembered that his original goal _was _supposed to be getting Black to talk. "I just want to ask a question: Why do you want to kill Harry?"

Sirius seemed to relax slightly; which Nico found strange. Black's answer was even stranger: "I don't."

Nico blinked. "But—the portrait, the sneaking about, the Time Turner—you killed thirteen people!"

"No. Someone else did that. Someone else got me framed—made me wait _twelve years_ in Azkaban!" Sirius Black's voice rose in intensity as he spoke. Nico sensed real anger there—he didn't think that Black was lying.

"Who was it?"

"He said he was James Potter's friend. Said he wouldn't let us down. But then he sold them to Voldemort—that dirty, lying, son of a—" Black cursed, calling whoever-it-was some pretty strong names. There was a glint of something, of madness, in Black's eyes. Perhaps it was Azkaban. Perhaps it was pure hate. But...Nico didn't think it was evil. It reminded the son of Hades of himself—he'd seen, lost, so much. All of that could break something inside you—and even then, you could hide the pain, the madness, so almost no one could see. Like Nico often did himself.

But _back_ to questioning Sirius Black.

"_Who?" _

"The rat," Black snarled. Nico was about to decide that Black was definitely mad, before he continued: "Another animagus—all four of us could transform, except Moony—he already had a...furry little secret. But then one of us betrayed the others—that cursed—" Black added a few more unflattering comments for good measure— "Peter Pettigrew. James and Lily Potter—_dead!_" Sirius' dark eyes burned with anger, and for a moment, he seemed to forget Nico was there, lost in his own memories.

Which was good, because Nico was trying to scan his.

_Pettigrew—ah, yes. One of the wizards Black had killed—former friend, stood up to him, only remains: one finger._ Nico's time struggling to read the papers and records in the library had paid off. "But..." Nico said carefully. "Didn't you..._kill_ Pettigrew?"

Black threw back his head in a harsh, barking laugh. "I tried! Confronted him—was going to give the little rat what he deserved. But then, he let out a dozen curses, blew the whole street to bits—"

Nico interrupted him, remembering the finger. "But they found Pettigrew's finger. Said it was all that was left."

Black let out another barking laugh. "He cut it off. I didn't believe it myself—that someone like him would have the nerve. He always was a coward. But he's alive—at Hogwarts. I need to find him—the traitor. I've waited twelve years to avenge James, twelve long years—I won't _anything _stop me, Nico di Angelo, or _anyone. _Not even the Ministry."

Nico flinched at hearing his name. Gods of Olympus, this was more confusing than Nico expected it to be. "So—" Nico said, carefully. "Peter Pettigrew sold James and Lily Potter to Voldemort, faked the murder that got you convicted, then...then what? How'd he get to Hogwarts? How'd you know, and escape?"

Sirius seemed to calm down. His dark eyes still flickered with anger, but he seemed more...well, _sane_—than earlier. Nico calmed down as well; although the young demigod was still ready to use his sword, he held it at a more neutral angle. Black had lowered his wand as well. "Saw the paper. It was about Ronald Weasley—and I saw _him._ Peter Pettigrew. I knew it was him—no rat could live twelve years—and 'Scabbers' was also missing a toe."

"But the dementors! You know what they're like—the memories..."

"The cold. The feeling you'll never be happy again," Black agreed. "For twelve years I endured. Only one thing kept me sane: I knew was innocent. The dementors couldn't suck that out of me."

"But isn't Azkaban _impossible_ to escape?" Nico asked, genuinely curious.

Sirius nodded. "For a human, yes. But I could transform. The dementors didn't know what to make of a dog's thoughts—they navigate by feelings, you know. No eyes—no one knows what's under a dementor's hood. Unless..." Sirius shuddered, then continued: "They don't feed you much. As a dog, I was skinny enough to slip through the bars. The dementors didn't notice at first—once they did, I was long gone. I swam across the North Sea—I was exhausted, but somehow, I made it."

Nico was, strangely enough, reminded of Tartarus—no matter what happened, he didn't give up. He persevered, because he needed to tell the others about the Doors of Death—maybe he and Sirius Black were more alike than Nico had thought. But what to do with that knowledge...? Suddenly, Nico had an idea—an idea that could fix everything.

"I'll help you find Pettigrew."

Sirius' eyes brightened. "Really?"

Nico nodded. "_But _we aren't going to kill him."

Sirius snarled like a wild animal. "Why not? That's all the bloody traitor deserves!"

Nico smirked despite himself. "Perhaps. _But...I_ have a better idea."

Sirius tilted his head, like a curious canine—he really was quite dog-like. "Go on," he said.

"We find Peter. We capture him. And then...we expose the truth. You can go free. And...well, I think that'll be enough for Fudge to decide I can go back to New York, that I'm not a danger to Harry Potter."

Sirius grinned, the first genuine happiness Nico had seen from him. "I like that plan. I really do." His expression became thoughtful. "What's he like? Harry?"

Nico blinked. "What...? Does Harry have something to do with you?"

"Why, I'm his godfather. James Potter—Harry's father—and I were the best of friends." He'd said that before, but Nico didn't think Sirius had really been paying attention to his words.

"Oh!" Nico said. "_That's _why you were...that explains a lot."

Sirius nodded.

"Well...I should probably tell Harry what I know. And _then..."_ Nico smiled. "The three of us can send Pettigrew straight to Azkaban, where he belongs."

* * *

**Harry's PoV**

Harry was in shock. In shock, and _furious _at Sirius Black—and Nico di Angelo. Hermione had told him and Ron about the broken Time Turner, apparently deciding that now that it was broken, it wasn't worth keeping it secret from her two best friends. Harry couldn't believe Nico would do such a thing—but maybe Nico was working with Black. A traitors working with a traitor. Fitting.

Harry was returning slowly to Hogwarts through the hidden passageway. Suddenly, Nico himself appeared of the shadows. He started talking so quickly, Harry had to strain to understand what he was saying—and the fact that Nico's accent became vaguely Italian when he talked fast didn't help.

"Finally—I've been looking for _ages! _Harry, we _need_ to talk—I found the answers—talked to Sirius—in the cave—it wasn't him—"

Harry cut him off, furious at both him and Black. "_You broke Hermione's Time Turner! _You're as bad as Black! Who _betrayed my parents! _They trusted him with their lives—and—and—" Harry broke off, somewhere between losing his temper and bursting into tears.

He was so lost, between anger and grief. His parents, betrayed, by his own godfather. Somehow, that was worse than Voldemort finding them by without help. And Nico—Harry had thought he could finally trust the guy, and yet Nico didn't look surprised at all...it was as though he knew all along. Like he'd only pretended to help Harry. Like he knew more than he said.

Nico shifted his weight, seeming unsure of how to continue. Still pretending. "Harry, I..."

"No!" Harry snapped. "I _will not _listen to you! And when I find him—when I find Sirius Black—I'll kill him!"

Nico blinked, before saying: "Wait, Harry—you don't understand—"

"I _understand _enough! I know that you're a good for nothing traitor—probably are working with Black himself! And then you pretend to _help _me! You won't ever belong here!"

Harry knew that he shouldn't have said that. He was angry at Sirius Black, at himself for being such a danger to everyone he cared about—but it was easier to focus on Nico and the Time Turner. Easier to ignore the complicated mess that was Harry's life.

Nico, however, didn't know that Harry hadn't meant it. "Fine. I'll figure this out myself. I don't need your help. And once I do—I'm leaving. I don't need you and your cursed wizard school anyways."

Nico disappeared back into the shadows, leaving Harry alone with his thoughts.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

Nico had been _sure_ that Harry would listen.

He'd help Nico catch Scabbers, a.k.a. Peter Pettigrew, and then Nico could leave and go back to camp. But it hadn't turned out that way.

No...it had gone wrong in the worst way Nico could've imagined.

Hermione had told them about the Time Turner being broken. They would never trust him. _You won't ever belong here! _The very thought Nico had been haunted by since he was eleven. But this time, it was true. Nico _wasn't_ a real wizard. He was a demigod. And he needed to go back to Camp Half-Blood, which, Nico finally realized, _was _his home now.

But now...Nico wouldn't be able to leave, not without endangering camp. He'd already revealed that it was located around New York. It wouldn't take long after that; every time Nico or another demigod left camp, the wizards would be all over them. And if they had a way to break through Camp Half-Blood's borders...no. Nico would never allow it.

And what about Sirius? How could Nico help _him? _And if he hadn't destroyed the Time Turner...who had? Peter? How had he known?

_Oh..._Nico had a sinking feeling in his stomach. _The rat._ The one he'd heard scuttling in the hallways with Hermione, and seen while he IMed Nico and Will.

Peter Pettigrew had been watching all along.

That decided it: Pettigrew _definitely _had to go. But Ron would never let Nico get close. He hadn't liked the son of Hades even _before_ this whole mess.

Nico stared up at Hogwarts Castle, looming over him. "Well...maybe I should set some mouse traps. I need to start somewhere...right?"

* * *

**Author's Notes: Well, I hope you enjoyed that. Sorry if Sirius is a bit OCC. I wrote and rewrote that section several times. ._.**

**But can we just pause for a moment...and appreciate the fact that he apparently is a pirate?**

**((In the movies))**

**Hehe. I made a few actual thumbnails for my YT. Now I feel unreasonably proud of myself. XD**

**I'm working on a cool drawing of a fox and a waterfall. Will upload the speedpaint when I finish! And update the fanfic...uh...when I feel like it, LOL.**


	12. Christmas and Chaos

**Rising From Shadowed Ashes**

**GreenCrystal19**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Heroes of Olympus; they belong to respective authors; J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan. Cover art by Viktoria Ridzel (Viria/viria13/vika) as usual. Her art is amazing; she is now the official portrait artist.**

* * *

**Author's Notes: ****I'm planning/making a new fanfic in which I fix the BoO ending, which had some issues as Leo states so clearly: "Eh. We took down Gaea in, like, forty seconds."**

**Thank you for all of the (mostly) kind/helpful reviews you post. It really helps me stay motivated. Here, I'll reply to a couple of you who don't have PM on and/or just random ones that would be funny to respond to in the author's notes. You know who you are, so no need for saying usernames. ;D  
**

**"Nice work! I think it would be a cool idea if Pettigrew reveals himself to Nico early on." Wish granted.**

**"OMGOMGOMG THIS IS SO GOOD BUT THERE WILL BE MORE SOLANGELO IN ToA BOOK 5?! PLS UPDATE SOON. PLS. AAAAAAAAH SOO GOOD!" Oh wow...thanks for the enthusiasm! And yes; Rick Riordan has confirmed that both Nico and Will will play key roles in Tower of Nero. He also says there'll be tons of Solangelo. You can check his Twitter for that and other fun stuff (Animal Crossing, anyone?) And trust me, (your other review) I was schist at drawing people only a few months ago. I've improved with the help of...*checks script and finds nothing*...YouTube and co.  
**

**"****This is by far the best Harry Potter/Percy Jackson story I have ever read. Never stop writing, you are an amazing writer! I know it has only been two days, but please update soon!" Oh wow, I'm not sure about that. That story with the cheeseburgers may be better. Yum...cheese...but back on topic! Thanks for the review; it helps to know that some people think I'm such a great writer, even if I don't believe that myself (and the fact that these people spend their time reading my work, even when they don't personally know me, is also very inspiring). And I update when I can, trust me. I have several writing and art projects, however, so my days are a bit cluttered as it is.  
**

**Anyways. Hope ya'll enjoyed that. I try to respond to any reviews with questions/that are extra extra funny/interesting; but I do appreciate all of them! =D (except for that one person who basically called me mental after reading, like, one chapter. Dunno about them...)**

**Also: I reread the last chapter, and let me just say, I AM SO****RRY FOR PROBABLY SCREWING SIRIUS UP MAJESTICALLY. But it's been published, it's too big to change, and it seems I will have to work with the mess I wrote whether I like it or not. So—here we go.**

* * *

**Chapter 12: Christmas and Chaos  
**

**Nico's PoV**

Setting mousetraps wasn't a good plan, which is exactly why Nico ditched it.

It was the night before Christmas break "officially" started—when students would have the option to leave school and spend the holidays with family and friends.

Despite the fact that Christmas would be a good time to hunt for Peter Pettigrew, Nico didn't want to get on the trio's nerves more than he already had—he planned to give them a wide berth, until school started again and things had cooled down. _Then _he'd talk to Harry again. He'd make him listen, somehow.

However, Nico's plan was already going downhill.

The trio stormed into the common room, laden with books. They rushed to a cluster of tables, dumped the books onto them, and furiously started turning pages. Nico blinked, unsure of how to respond to this interesting turn of events: Ron willingly reading a _book?_

The son of Hades watched silently from the corner for a moment, steeling his resolve. Then: "Has something happened?"

Harry and Hermione ignored him. Ron glanced up at Nico, seemed to consider making some kind of insult, then returned to his books.

"Ohhhh-kay then. Well, I'm gonna head upstairs..." Carefully, like he was treading through a minefield, Nico gathered his books and made his way upstairs before hastily getting ready for bed and burrowing under the covers. He was _extremely_ _tired,_ even though he hadn't been shadow traveling: his arms ached from carrying heavy books around all day—another sign that he was seriously out of shape, for a demigod—his back ached from poor posture, and his head also ached from attempting to read tiny, cramped text for over ten hours.

Nico spent the next few hours in a daze, half awake, half asleep. His headache was gradually getting worse—Nico berating himself about how he'd handled more than a headache was _not_ helping—and no matter what, Nico just couldn't seem to fall asleep. He blamed Hogwarts.

Just as he might have finally achieved some relief from the day's work, Harry and Ron came from the doorway, looking almost as bad as Nico felt, and started filing away their books and supplies—_very noisily, _Nico might add. He opened his eyes and glared at the curtains, which he'd drawn tight. Finally, the loud clunking subsided...to be replaced by talking, in low, urgent voices.

Nico rolled his eyes. "Hey, if you're going to throw books around the dormitory all night, could you at least tell me _why?_"

A pause. Then, Harry's voice: "Buckbeak's trial is coming up. We're trying to help prepare the defense."

"Trial?"

"For hurting Malfoy."

"But he didn't hurt him—he was fine in, like, five seconds."

"You think they're going to care about that?" Ron said.

"You wizards seem to have a very unreliable justice system."

"I feel like you're talking about something else here," Harry said.

"Maybe I am." Nico closed his eyes again. "Look, I'm tired. If you could quiet down a bit, I'd really appreciate it."

Silence. Then more moving around, although it did seem that the two other boys were at least trying to be quiet—although, Nico thought, their idea of a whisper needed some work. Whatever...he'd be out of here by noon tomorrow. After a while, the whispering seemed to sound more and more like the spirits of the Underworld, chattering shades with no idea who they were or what what their purpose was.

Soon enough, Nico drifted asleep, transported to another time, another place, among the souls of the lost.

* * *

_I stared numbly ahead at the flowing dark river, items and broken dreams being swept away in the currant, along with any hope of getting Bianca back. I couldn't believe it: I felt hopeless, I felt like I'd failed. But I also felt betrayed: why had she decided to be reborn? To leave me again? Had she thought I couldn't handle it if the Doors of Death were open and she wasn't gone? Did she not _want _to be reborn; to come back to me?_

_I thought about it for a long time, wondering whether it wouldn't be easier to just jump into the Styx—which made me think about Percy, and the battle with the Titans. I couldn't just give up._

_Sighing, I rose to my feet and walked around the Underworld, through the Fields of Asphodel. Black and white poplars were everywhere, a stark contrast to the black grass of the fields, the jagged rocks and the gloom above. And that's when I found her: a child of Pluto, someone who remembered her past. Someone who could help heal the hole in my heart. A new sister: Hazel Levesque._

* * *

**Harry's PoV**

The next morning, Harry woke up abruptly. It had happened _again: _he'd gotten another weird dream from Nico. Which Harry couldn't understand at all, and not just because some of the words were static-like, as though the dream was trying to protect certain information.

Harry didn't remember dreaming that night. At least Nico himself hadn't gotten any...input. But, despite the fact that di Angelo was probably up to no good, Harry felt a responsibility to at least tell him that it had happened again. Harry didn't think Nico was deliberately sending dreams; it felt like an outside force was toying with him somehow. Maybe Voldemort was up to something again.

Either way, Harry did _not _approve. He looked over at Nico's bunk; the curtains were still closed. Since Harry didn't want a "Stygian iron sword" or whatever it was stuck in his face, he decided to leave di Angelo alone for now and got dressed before bounding downstairs into the common room. Ron was already up; he was sleepily paging through the books they'd retrieved from the library, accompanied by Hermione, who wasn't turning the pages with her normal vigor, either.

Harry walked over to join them, and after a few minutes, Nico stumbled down the stairs, yawning. He glanced at them and paused, appearing to be thinking hard about something. Then he hesitated, before walking over. "Um...I was wondering if I could help. With Buckbeak."

Harry stared at him. "What?"

A look of slight irritation, and then...embarrassment? flashed across Nico's face. "Look, I _liked _Buckbeak. What exactly is going to happen to him if they lose the case?"

"He'll be executed," Hermione said grimly.

Nico looked angry at that, and he muttered something that Harry thought was a curse aimed at Malfoy. At least Nico wasn't teaming up with _him. _"Well...I'll see what I can do. I'm not much when it comes to reading..._anything, _really, except Anc—" here he stopped and changed the subject. "Anyways, the _real _reason I came over here: I...need some help with something."

They stared at him for a few moments. "...What is it?" Harry asked cautiously.

"Well," Nico began quickly, as though he just wanted to get it over with, "I don't know much about how the Ministry works, so, um, I was wondering if you guys could explain it. As I said, books and me don't go together, and I couldn't find any information in the couple I went through."

Ron sighed, annoyed, then: "The Ministry of Magic. There are _loads_ of departments di Angelo. My dad works in one of them, in fact. Don't expect me to explain them all."

"Could you name a couple?"

Ron sighed, extremely annoyed. "There's the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophies, the Department of International Magical Cooperation, the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement—"

"That's the one," Nico interrupted. "Magical Law Enforcement. How does that work?"

"Why'd you want to know about _that?_" Harry asked, somewhat shocked.

Nico sighed. "I'm just curious, Potter." Turning back to Ron, he continued: "Go on, please."

"Well, there are highly specialized wizards known as Aurors, who track down Dark wizards and such—"

"—who work in the Auror Office, or Auror headquarters," Hermione finished, not one to be left out in the pursuit of knowledge.

"Right. Then there's the Wizengamot, which is even older than the Ministry. They're like the high court; they do trials and stuff, which are held in the dungeons, usually. The accused can bring in witnesses to be questioned—"

_"—and_ a third-party with legal knowledge can speak for the defender," Hermione continued. Ron looked a bit annoyed at this second interruption.

"Okay..." Nico said, looking a bit confused. Harry didn't blame him; honestly. Though why he was so curious about the Ministry, Harry didn't know. It probably wasn't good. "Well, I'm going to pack."

Hermione looked over sharply. "_Pack?_"

"What, you thought I'd stay here during the holidays? _Definitely _not. Like Harry said, I don't fit in here—and I want a break already."

Before Harry could respond to thatNthat, Ron asked: "Where exactly are you going?"

The shadow of a smile crossed Nico's face. "Home."

And then Nico headed back upstairs, leaving three confused friends in his wake.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

_Technically, _Nico was probably supposed to stay at Hogwarts, where Albus Dumbledore had basically taken responsibility of him to keep him out of prison. After all, no matter how much he disliked the mysterious old wizard, he was preferable to the Minister of Magic (who had probably been intercepting Nico's mail) and Azkaban (which may or may not be guarded by dementors full time).

But at that point, Nico didn't really care: over time, the walls of the school had felt like borders, blocking Nico in—dense and suffocating. He wanted to be back at camp; despite how stressful demigod life was in general, Nico would feel like he could finally breath freely, and be himself.

He shoved his belongings into his backpack and turned, walking quickly through the common room and out into the corridors. Nico didn't want to be exhausted and wiped out when he got to camp, so he'd decided he might as well take the Hogwarts Express back to London, where he'd call up Jules and have the zombie chaffeur drive him closer to the coast. Then, Nico could make the jump across the Atlantic with minimum fuss.

Nico walked out the giant doors of Hogwarts and let out a sigh of relief. Then, he continued onto the gates, along with the many other students who would be leaving for the holidays. Gritting his teeth, Nico endured the relative torture of passing the dementors—it was clear that he wasn't the only one who despised them; Neville Longbottom's face turned pale as he passed, and Dean Thomas gritted his teeth, looking both nervous and irritated at the same time.

During the train ride, Nico stared out the window, watching the countryside roll by, and thinking about camp. He wondered what was going on there: whether any quests had been issued, or gods forbid, prophecies. He wondered about the various cabin pranks, and who had allied with who in capture the flag. Most of all, Nico wondered who would be at camp: would Hazel be visiting? Frank? Reyna? Probably not. Will would be there, and maybe Jason, as well as Piper and Leo. And..._him._

Nico wanted to clear the air between him and Percy Jackson, but he wasn't sure how he was supposed to do _that_. He imagined the scene: _Hey, did you know a random __son of Hades had a crush on you for, like, three years? Well, I don't anymore. Bye, have a nice day!_

Nope. Nico may want to clear the air, but he also didn't want to embarrass himself.

His thoughts shifted as Ginny Weasley came into his compartment. "Hey, Nico," Ginny said, a bit cautiously. Nico assumed Ron had mentioned the Time Turner to her.

He smiled. "Hi." A pause, then: "How come you're heading home, but Ron's staying?"

Ginny shuffled her feet, like the subject was a bit awkward. "Well, it's just—Harry doesn't have many friends at school. He can't go back to his aunt and uncle's house. So Ron wanted to stay this year."

"Oh. Are his relatives a bit..." Nico trailed off.

Ginny grimaced. "Yeah. They basically starved him until he was eleven, and blamed him every time something weird happened, since he was a wizard. They thought they could 'squash the magic out of him.'"

Nico gritted his teeth. "Harsh," he said, a bit annoyed. Not at Harry, but at the way he was raised—no wonder the guy could be a bit...irritable. "A..._friend_...of mine has an awful stepdad; he nicknamed him Smelly Gabe, but at least he had a cool mom."

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Smelly Gabe?"

"Percy—Percy Jackson—says that you'd understand if you knew him."

"Ah." Ginny look amused. "I see. What're you doing during break?"

"I have a...flexible schedule," Nico admitted. "It's...hard to explain."

Ginny changed the subject, talking about Hogwarts classes and the different professors. They talked about how annoying Malfoy and Professor Snape were for a while, sharing stories. The only disagreement was when Nico thought Professor Lupin was trash. According to Ginny, almost everyone else loved him. "Hmm. Well, when someone forces me to reveal your biggest fears in front of the class, I don't like them that much," Nico said, crossing his arms.

"I guess..." Ginny looked at him like she was trying to understand exactly what that was about, even now, reminding Nico once again that Hogwarts wasn't the right place for him. Sure, he could wave a wand, do some spells, but he _wasn't _a wizard. He was a demigod, like it or not, and he belonged with other demigods, who went through the same, or at least similar, experiences. They fought against a common enemy, and didn't have some complex government system chock full of rules and regulations.

Eventually, the train arrived in London. Nico bid farewell to Ginny and headed out into the streets, finding a side alley to summon Jules-Albert from. A few minutes later, he was on his way to the coast, anticipating the long shadow travel jump, and then camp. Where he would _immediately _make sure Will hadn't butchered the Hades Cabin and painted it yellow.

Pretty soon, Nico stood in front of the waves. "Thanks," he said to Jules. The zombie chaffeur seemed to grin before disappearing back into the earth. And then, Nico mentally prepared himself for shadow travel, and the return to camp, and slipped into darkness.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

Turns out, Cornelius Fudge _wasn't_ intercepting Nico's mail. _Every. Single. Demigod _was having that problem. A few months ago, all magical or technological communication had begun to fail: Iris messages, magic scrolls, wind spirits, Roman eagles, email, phone call—no matter the form, it just wouldn't work. It happened gradually; the few short calls Nico had needed to make slipped through somehow. But now, essentially all communication was blocked.

Great. After hearing this news, Nico was almost back to his good old pessimistic self.

When he'd arrived, it was about five o'clock in the morning, since it had been ten AM when he'd left from Hogwarts. During the following hours, the campers had updated Nico on the disturbing situation, and Nico, in return, had told some stories about his experiences at Hogwarts—leaving out a good deal of information.

He'd also checked on the Hades Cabin the day before, and, turns out, Will was a better decorator than Nico had thought: the weird coffin bunks had been replaced with normal ones, with elaborate bronze head and foot panels, and silky black sheets. All the bloody red vampire stuff had been removed as well, and the theme was more black, bronze, and silver (plus green fire that never went out; free heating!) then weird vampire/Lord of Darkness/death stuff. Okay, fine; the cabin still radiated death, but in, like, a _cozy _way—

Nico gave up trying to explain it. He'd go insane if he kept it up any longer. Anyways, the cabin was a lot nicer.

So, as he came out of the Hade's cabin just before noon on December 25, Christmas morning, Nico wasn't sure whether he should be worried halfway to Tartarus, or happy about being back at Camp Half-Blood.

The camp looked festive for the holidays: the ground had been allowed to be covered with a light but hard layer of snow in strategic places; still easy to walk across, but snow-free in others. The air was crisp, but not overly so: Nico felt just fine in his aviator jacket; he wasn't cold at all. In addition to that, the traditional floating balls of brightly colored fire were floating around the big house and the Dining Pavilion. There was even a great big Christmas tree in the central green; Nico thought it looked pretty nice.

Yawning, he made his way over to where Will, Leo, and Calypso were hanging out. Nico didn't know how he felt about Leo; he was pretty sure the fiery demigod didn't particularly like him, and the feeling was mutual. Calypso seemed okay, from what Nico had heard, although she also had been in love with Percy; and Will was better than okay, a fact Nico still found a bit ironic, with the whole son-of-Apollo thing. Nico shoved his thoughts away, and, king of conversation, simply said: "Hi."

"Wassup?" Leo said, grinning like crazy.

"The sky," Nico said, still a bit tired. He was _definitely_ not a morning person.

"Not the sun?" Will asked.

Nico ignored him. "Anyways, what's going on today? A new quest? Gods falling from the sky?"

Will grinned. "Presents."

"What?"

"Since there are so many campers now," Will explained, "there's an official place for, like, presents. Each cabin has a section."

Leo grinned. "Yeah. And guess who made it?"

Nico was confused. "Made the tree?"

Leo laughed, shaking his head. "Gods, no. Go take a look at my genius-ness."

Nico rolled his eyes. "I'll decide how _genius _it is for myself, Valdez."

A few minutes later, Nico regretted his comment: what Leo had done was pretty cool. To save space, each cabin had a large mechanical present, based on the respecting building's theme. Leo had explained that there was a button on top, among the decor, that would be pushed to "unleash my awesomeness." Which Nico was rather tentative about. He found his way to the Hades box, which was black and silver, embedded with little bones as well as stones that shimmered with an unnatural green light.

Pushing the button, which was white and shaped like a skull, Nico watched silently as the box popped open. It had four panels, one for each side—logical—that opened to reveal a much larger space in the box, which had enough room for like, a gazillion presents—_not _logical. Nico figured it was magically enlarged, like Chiron's wheelchair or something. Inside were several packages wrapped in various paper: gold and black, silver and black, and—Nico choked—a _very bright, _eye-scorching yellow.

Nico knew who that was from.

"_Will,_" he muttered, scooping up the packages and returning to the group, "I am going to _murder you to death._"

Leo grinned. "What'd you think? Totally awesome?"

Calypso had wandered off, which was unfortunate: Leo was now on the loose.

"It was pretty cool," Nico responded grudgingly, before turning back to Will. "Why the yellow paper."

Will smiled. "What, you don't like it?"

"..."

"Um, anyways," Will said at the glare being sent his way, "just open it."

Nico obliged. Inside was...a bracelet. "Jewelry?"

Will facepalmed. "It's _special _jewelry! It'll help you not be so tired after you shadow-travel!"

"May I ask...how?"

Leo raised his eyebrows. "Will told me it's hard to explain, in which case, I'll let him do it." And so Flaming Valdez fled the scene.

"Okay. So, Hades helped make this," Will said, once he was gone.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. Before the whole communication thing happened. It took many IMs and many close calls—I almost got incinerated at one point."

"I have to have a talk with him."

Will nodded. "Agreed."

"Who got the bracelet?"

"Um...ANYWAYS, the way this works. So, you know sinks, right? And like...cups?"

Nico stared at him, fairly certain that the son of Apollo had lost his mind.

"Okay, okay. So, when you turn on a sink and leave, like, a cup under it, eventually the cup overflows and the water is wasted," Will began, trying again.

Nico shook his head. "You're confusing me."

"Well, Hades said that demigods are like...well, cups under a sink. They get their powers from somewhere, but they can only have so much at a time. Basically, the bracelet is a way for you to store shadow-energy-stuff for later, instead of using all of your own."

"Okay...still don't get it. You could've just said 'it stores extra energy for shadow-travel.' But thanks."

"Also, it, um, doesn't come precharged." He pointed at a groove along the edge of the bracelet, which was made of shining black stone and embedded with small black stones, like diamonds or onyx. "When that thing starts glowing silver, it's charged. When it's entirely silver, the thing's at full power and can't collect any more shadow-energy."

Nico smiled. "Well, thanks."

Will nodded. "No problem. By the way, Hades just found out about this, which is why you didn't get one earlier."

Nico frowned. "Yeah, it would have been useful. Who sent the other stuff?"

Will shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"One way to find out."

After opening the packages and making a mess, Nico found gifts from Hazel, Reyna, and Jason. Nice.

Hazel sent a diamond attached to a loop of black leather and some chocolate bars; the diamond was supposed to be a toy for Ambra (who was flying around the camp, NOT getting into trouble) as ravens liked shiny things. The leather was a hanger/handle, in case Ambra didn't want to grab the diamond itself. The chocolate was self explanatory.

Reyna had sent a bottle of unicorn draught and some Roman denarii, along with a letter explaining that mortal post still worked. She'd also told Nico what her mailing address would be, and also sent some stationary and mortal stamps. (Nico could also send letters to Hazel, as, turns out, Camp Jupiter just had a shared PO box in a post office somewhere.)

Jason had sent some more denarii, a cool little paperweight/desktop decor with a mini-storm inside it (complete with lightning!) which Nico thought was cool. He'd also sent a little book on magic from the Hecate cabin, with a label: _Not sure if this helps at all, but I was running out of ideas, okay. _Nico smiled; it probably _wouldn't _help, but he wasn't going to tell Jason that.

Producing a little silver parcel, Nico tossed it to Will. "You can have that. I'll send the other things to Camp Jupiter via..." he made a face— "mortal post."

Will unwrapped the little parcel as Nico got started discovering the ways of mortals. Nico had given the son of Apollo a couple drachmas, some herbs and things, a new satchel with lots of pockets and dividers to sort his things in, and of course, the moving Mythomagic statue of...Apollo. (Will wasn't quite sure what do do with that.)

After delivering the gifts to Argus (who insisted on delivering everything to the post office so demigods wouldn't have to risk their lives or something) Nico and Will spent the rest of the holidays messing around and, of course, training. Everyone knew that something big was coming: the atmosphere of the camp, while cheerful, also had an undertone of determination: that they'd face whatever would come next with their weapons ready.

Nico, on the other hand, didn't want to go back to Hogwarts. He procrastinated as much as possible, saying that if something big was coming, he should be at camp for it (though the wizards probably would still ground him or something). And so, Nico was still at camp in the middle of January to witness the god Apollo falling from the sky.

* * *

**Harry's PoV**

Harry had no idea where Nico had gone—break had ended like, two weeks ago. Harry's lessons with Lupin had started, and was fairly certain the dementors had made him extra irritated: Harry found himself snapping at Ron and Hermione more, and cursing whenever he spilled ink on something (which he may or may not have done in the best of times). But then...Harry had good reason to be irritated: someone had sent him the best broomstick known to wizard kind, and Hermione had gotten it taken away to be "stripped down." In addition, Crookshanks was constantly after Scabbers, and Ron and Hermione were constantly arguing.

That was ignoring the fact that Nico was missing.

Since Cornelius had never wanted Nico to be in Hogwarts, he'd decided to send out some of his Aurors to search New York for di Angelo, despite Dumbledore's disapproval. Even though Harry was suspicious of Nico, that did seem a bit harsh.

Anyways, as the days wore on, Harry couldn't help but wonder what Nico could possibly be doing.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

Nico was exhausted: ever since the great Apollo had begun causing trouble, the demigods had been training overtime. Nico's little bracelet thing had helped, but once again, it was nearly out of charge. The battle with the giant statue had been the last straw, and apparently, Will agreed.

"Hey Nico?" He came jogging up to the son of Hades, who was sitting grumpily on the front steps of the Hades cabin.

"Yes?"

"Well, I was thinking, that maybe we could...um...take a field trip. To, like, McDonalds. Or something."

Nico raised an eyebrow. "Are you...asking me on a date?"

Will blushed. "No! Honestly, I want to get away from my dad. Apollo. Who is younger than me and—" Will looked around carefully_— _"_very_ _whiny_."

Nico stifled a laugh. "Yeah, I can definitely see that. But the real question is...did _you_ inherit his amazing qualities? Are you whiny, or scrawny?"

"Hey!"

"I was just asking," Nico said, making a straight face. "And sure, I'll come."

As they headed out of camp, Will told Nico what had happened. Turns out, he'd been begging Chiron for days to have an excuse to leave camp. The centaur had finally agreed (reluctantly) but insisted that Will bring at least one other demigod—which was fine with Nico. He got to procrastinate more.

They hailed Jules-Albert, and headed towards a McDonalds in New York. Will got an Egg McMuffin. Nico got McNuggets. Also a chocolate milkshake. Jules-Albert didn't get anything except some funny looks at the drive-thru.

(He didn't mind.)

Afterwards, Nico and Will headed to Central Park, to find a nice spot to hang out and relax and eat their McDonalds. They settled on a picnic table under a weeping willow, which currently consisted of a ton of sweeping branches covered in a thin, bright layer of snow. Not many people were at their area of the park; the snow was quite deep, and the air was crisp. (Which Nico was fine with.)

Will and he talked about Apollo and camp news and the Grove of Dodona for a while. Nico wasn't fond of prophecies; he certainly didn't need more of them. Conversation turned to Nico's side of events; he told Will some of the details that he hadn't shared with the rest of the camp: about how Sirius Black was an animagus, and about Peter Pettigrew, Hermione's Time Turner, and Harry's reaction to Nico's version of the events.

Will pursed his lips. "Well, I'm _still _having a hard time believing that, and I _went _there."

Nico nodded. "Yup."

Will thought for a moment, then sat straight up. "Hey, Nico...didn't you say you weren't technically allowed to leave the school? Without being arrested or something?"

"..."

"_Nico?_"

"...Yeahhhh?"

Will face-palmed. "By the gods, Nico! With our luck, a team of highly-trained wizards will come charging at us right now!"

Nico snorted."Why? I'm not _that _important to them."

"They don't know that!"

Nico rolled his eyes. "Look, if the wizards wanted me arrested, they would've come at me a _long _time ago. We've been out in the real world for, what, an hour?"

Will frowned slightly. "You have a point...but _still._"

Nico smiled. "If they try anything, it definitely won't be a good day for them."

"Hmmph." Will picked at the table, before shoving his hand into Nico's french-fries and crunching away.

"Hey!" Nico protested. He quite _liked _his French fries.

"I finished mine."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Of course you did."

They sat looking around at the snow and the people in the distance. It was peace; traffic droned in the distance, of course, but it seemed far off compared to the quiet dripping of icicles and the steady munching of McNuggets and french-fries.

Will interrupted the silence. "What do you think you'll do once this is all over?"

Nico looked at him, then back at the skyline of Manhatten, thinking. Although he already knew the answer. "I'll come back here. And...well, I'll stay." He gave Will a sideways smile. "Thanks for fixing the Hades cabin. You didn't do such a bad job."

"Excuse me? I'd say I did an _excellant _job."

"Yeah, fine. You did."

They started talking about some of the funniest things that had happened to them: how Conor and Travis had used the wizard merchandise Will had given them, how Jason, Leo, and Percy had once put a cattle bell on Nico so he couldn't be all stealthy anymore*****...fun times. For the first time in a while, Nico actually felt perfectly happy: he wasn't worrying about what would come next, or about Will learning his darkest secrets. He was just a normal demigod (or as normal as a demigod can be, anyways) having a good time in a normal park.

So of course, that was when the wizards decided to ruin it.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

_CRACK!_

Two wizards appeared about ten feet away from them: one in front, one in back, wands pointed at the demigods. The one in front of Nico, a tall man with dark skin, elaborate dark blue robes, and a good earring in one ear, said: "Stay where you are, Mr. di Angelo. We have orders to bring you to the Minister of Magic immediately." His voice was clear, deep and slow; and commanded just as much authority as a Roman prateor, or even a god.

So, did Nico stay where he was?

Nope.

He and Will leaped up with inhuman reflexes, automatically assuming a back-to-back position. Nico drew his sword. Will dig around in his pack for a moment. "Curses!" he yelped. "I forgot my bow!" And so Will produced a very dry bundle of rosemary, which was so stiff Nico figured it would be more dangerous than Will's bow. (Despite being a son of Apollo, the guy was horrible at archery.)

Nico did a quick scan of the other wizard: he looked tough, rather battle-hardened; with short, wiry gray hair and hard blue eyes. Nico wasn't sure Will would be able to take him, and Nico himself didn't particularly want a fight, either.

Will agreed. "What now, di Angelo?" he whispered, keeping his eyes on the tough-looking wizard.

"Your guess is as good as mine," he hissed back.

The tall wizard spoke again. "Di Angelo. It would be unwise to fight. I am Kingsley Shacklebolt, a highly trained auror—"

"Yeah, yeah." Nico waved his hand, deciding on his approach. He made his sword transform back into a ring. Will raised his eyebrows; Nico glared at him. He won the staring contest.

Will put the deadly rosemary away.

"You want me to go with you, back to Hogwarts or whatever. Great. Fine! I'll go with you," Nico said, keeping his voice level.

"But Nico—"

"_Will_," Nico hissed at him. "I'll be _fine. _I don't want you getting yourself killed!"

Shacklebolt still had them at wandpoint, as did the other Auror, if that's what he was. Nico didn't want Will getting hurt.

Unfortunately, Shacklebolt had news: "We're not taking you to Hogwarts."

Nico's heart skipped a beat. He struggled to remain calm. "Oh? So, where am I going, exactly?"

"Trial," the other Auror said gruffly. "Minister's orders."

Nico wasn't sure about that—if he had to go near the dementors...but the son of Hades was willing to do it if Will stayed safe.

Will, on the other hand, wasn't going to have that. Switching to Ancient Greek, the son of Apollo said: "You can't just hand yourself in! What if they arrest you? My Anti-Dementor-Fun-For-Everyone may not be able to help!"

Nico stamped his foot. "Will! I am doing this _for you, _so you don't get in the same mess I'm in!" Also in Ancient Greek.

"But—"

"Enough talking, please," Shacklebolt said. "You can do that at the Ministry of Magic as much as you'd like." He nodded at Will.

Will blinked. "Wait—what? I'm going to the wizard trial thing, too? Why?"

"You were found with di Angelo, who is accused of Dark magic. You must be brought in as well," Shacklebolt responded in that same slow voice."

Will glared at Nico. "This. Is. _Your. _Fault."

"_My _fault?! What'd I do? I didn't—" Nico broke off. He didn't what? _Start it? Bring the wizards here? _Except he kind of _had. _Ancient Greek time again. "Will. When I distract them, you _run. _I don't care where you go; just _get out of here _and get back to camp. Don't worry about me."

"But—"

"I'll be fine. _You _won't be. Now, _GO!_"

Nico activated his sword, stabbing it into the ground with all his strength. Skeletons clawed their way from the earth, dozens of them. The wizards started shooting spells at Nico and Will, but Nico was gone. He'd shadow-traveled away from their first volley of spells. The skeletons and Nico's shadow-magic kept Will safe from any more magical attacks.

The son of Apollo had begun running towards the city; he was already a good distance away. Meanwhile, the two Aurors closed in on Nico, shooting spell after spell. Somehow, Nico managed to deflect them with his sword, but his shields of darkness were already evaporating: shadows didn't last long in the daylight, and Nico had expended quite a large amount of energy on that little trick. Most of the skeletons were also gone, or destroyed with the Authors' magic.

Shacklebolt shot something into the sky: a flare of some sort, calling for backup. No time to worry about that; Nico was barely evading capture as it was. He got hit with a stunning spell, and his mind went all foggy for a moment. Nico shook it off and kept deflecting spells, summoning more shadows and bones to help. As soon as Will reached the city...

Nico had been keeping an eye on the son of Apollo, of course, though it was rather hard to do that while ducking and dodging and taking spell after spell. Will reached the city. All of Nico's skeletons and shadows abruptly collapsed. Another disarming spell (Nico's sword had already tried to slip out of his hand about six times) was shot at him, and Nico's sword went flying out of his hand. A moment later, two stunning stunning spells hit the son of Hades yet again, although this time, Nico couldn't hold them off. He slipped into the cold ether of unconscious, knowing that, whatever happened to him now, Will was safe—or at least, as safe as a demigod could ever be.

Nico, on the other hand...well, his last thought was that he was in very, _very _big trouble.

* * *

**Author's Notes: Cliffhangers! Whee! Uncle Rick would be proud. Everyone talks about Mark of Athena, but THE SEA OF MONSTERS ENDING WAS JUST INSANE! **

**Guess who had a headache at one point when I wrote this? That's right..._me. _Made writing Nico especially fun. That section with the dream, in first person italics—I'm thinking about doing that sort of stuff in my actual book, occasionally when the characters are awake, even. Does that seem cool? I think it'll add a nice change to the constant third person. What think you?**

***This is a reference to another author's amazing story, "Nico di Angelo and the Cow Bell." Me and my friend agree that it's the best fanfiction we've ever laid eyes on.**

** s/10705546/1/Nico-di-Angelo-and-the-Cow-Bell**

**Also can we just acknowledge how Demons by Imagine Dragons is 110% Nico's theme song? Here:**

**When the days are cold:** Nico and Bianca were found when it was cold. Done. Next!

**And the cards all fold:** Mythomagic!

**And the saints we see/Are all made of gold:** I'll say this means that the people Nico trusted, or the "saints" like his mom and Hades, were gone or let him down. Next!

**When your dreams all fail:** Nico wanted to be accepted, he wanted time with Bianca, he wanted Percy to love him; he had a LOT of dreams that failed.

**And the ones we hail/Are the worst of all:** this goes back to lines 3 and 4, and includes Percy and King Minos letting him down.

**And the blood's run stale:** The blood that was spilled during his mother's death was stale; old, forgotten: like Nico's old life. Boy, this is fun! Shall I continue?

**I want to hide the truth/I want to shelter you: **Nico didn't tell Percy and the Romans everything, as he wanted to prevent a war. He didn't tell Hazel everything, or tell Percy about Hades' request to bring him to the god's palace.

**But with the beast inside/There's nowhere we can hide:** This can mean many things: Nico's underworld powers, his past, the fact that he's gay and that he hated it; his heritage as a son of Hades. Yeah, it fits Nico perfectly.

**No matter what we breed/We still are made of greed/This is my kingdom come/This is my kingdom come:** This line refers more to Hades AND Nico in my opinion. Nico finally brought honor to Hades and his children, but to do it, he and Hades (mostly Hades) made some bad and/or selfish choices. (Or held a grudge, anyways.)

**When you feel my heat/Look into my eyes/It's where my demons hide/It's where my demons hide/Don't get too close/It's dark inside/It's where my demons hide/It's where my demons hide:** Nico doesn't want to expose people to the darkness inside of him; despite the fact that he kind of has an issue with self-pity, he hid who he was and put his mission first.

**When the curtain's call/Is the last of all:** Frankly, I don't understand this line. I am sorry.

**When the lights fade out/All the sinners crawl: **Minos ran around when it was dark. So do monsters. Done.

**So they dug your grave:** In Nico's mind, Percy "dug" Bianca's grave. Percy, likewise, pretty much thought Nico dug his with the whole bringing—Percy—to—Hades thing.

**And the masquerade/Will come calling out/At the mess you made:** Nico blamed himself for Bianca's death. Percy blamed him, temporarily, about the mess with Hades.

**Don't want to let you down/But I am hell bound:** Nico doesn't want to let Bianca, or Percy, or the demigods down. Yet he's a son of Hades, and from a different century, and also gay; in his mind, this once meant that he failed somehow. In addition, his quest into Tartarus, and with the Athena Parthenos, was essentially doomed; and so, he was "hell-bound."

**Though this is all for you/Don't want to hide the truth: **Nico accepted the quest largely because of his feelings for Hazel (as a sister, obviously) and Percy. Eventually, he made the hard decision to tell Percy the truth.

**No matter what we breed: **Again. Just scroll past it. =D

**REFRAIN WUZ HERE**

**They say it's what you make/I say it's up to fate: **Nico thought his son of Hades/from the past stuff defined who he could be and what he could do. While he did fix this, it was a problem for quite some time.

**It's woven in my soul/I need to let you go:** Nico had to admit that, yes, he needed to let Bianca AND Percy go. He knew this deep down; so it was "woven in my soul" for him.

**Your eyes, they shine so bright/I want to save their light:** He wanted to save Hazel. Oh yeah, and Percy.

**I can't escape this now/Unless you show me how:** Nico couldn't escape his eventual doom in Blood of Olympus without the help of Reyna, Pegasus, and Hades himself. He also couldn't escape his problem with Minos and Bianca in book 4 of PJO without Percy and Bianca helping him.

**THE REFRAIN RETURNS!**

**Yeah it's totally his theme song. DON'T try to convince me otherwise. LOL.**


	13. A Poisoned Trial

**Rising From Shadowed Ashes**

**GreenCrystal19**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Heroes of Olympus; they belong to respective authors; J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan. Cover art by Viktoria Ridzel (Viria/viria13/vika) as usual. Her art is amazing; she is now the official portrait artist.**

* * *

**Author's Notes: To describe the last chapter in two words: _well then._ Have fun with this one! Nico gets in _sooooooo_ much trouble!**

* * *

**Chapter 13: A Poisoned Trail**

**Nico's PoV**

Nico woke up because he was cold. _Freezing, _in fact. His entire body ached; and as Nico's vision returned to him, he saw that he was lying on a cold, stone bench-like structure. He sat up, stood. He was in a small stone cube of a room. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all made of the same smooth, black tiles. The only exit was a sturdy metal door with a small barred window. Great.

Nico glanced down at his hands. They were bound with metal manacles—like thick, heavy bracelets—that connected to two chains on the floor. Sadly, Nico didn't have the key.

Also sad: his ring stubbornly refused to return to him. Nico could sense that it was nearby, but some magic was keeping it from returning to him. Great. No weapon, no escape route. Nico tried shadow-traveling. Maybe that would work.

Dissolving into the darkness, Nico found that, no, it did _not _work. Usually, when Nico shadow-traveled, it was like he was rushing through network of dark corridors—like a _venti_, a storm spirit, might feel navigating the winds. But now, Nico was confined to a small cubical of darkness that he sensed was the exact dimensions of the room he was in. And there wasn't much point shadow-traveling randomly around the room; Nico could already sense that the handcuffs would stick to him. Great.

Returning to solid form, Nico thought again. Maybe he could use his powers to pick the lock, or bust down the door. He tried summoning a shadow. A little wisp of darkness appeared. Good! But when Nico tried to will it to pick the lock, it stubbornly refused. The same happened with bones—Nico wasn't able to summon anything, or do anything, that could possibly help him escape. His Underworld magic was completely useless here, it seemed. Nico looked around again. "Well, it's better than a bronze jar," he muttered. "At least I can breath."

Plunking down on the stone bunch, which wasn't tiled, just a simple black slab, Nico proceeded to stare expectantly at the door. He knew that when his eventual doom came for him, it would enter through that door.

He was right! Oh, goody.

Of course, Nico, being ADHD, had since gotten bored with the current setup. When Kingsley Shacklebolt entered, he found Nico reclining in a hammock woven from shadows he'd attached to the ceiling. Nico himself was throwing darts made from bone at a dartboard made from pure darkness. A little skeletal mouse was skittering around on the floor. It cowered in a corner as Shacklebolt observed it critically.

Nico looked up. "Hi." He threw another dart at the dartboard. "Took you long enough. Heyyy, I scored a bullseye!"

Shacklebolt seemed rather taken aback. "We specifically enchanted this room to suppress the magic of Dark wizards. How, exactly, have you managed..." he waved his hand at the dartboard— "all of this?"

Nico smiled without humor. "I'm special that way." He scored another bull's eye. "So...what about the trial?"

Nico was secretly_ very _worried about that, though he figured he was doing a pretty good gob at hiding it.

"I have come to take you there now," Shacklebolt said. "The Minister and the Wizengamot will decide your fate. Oh, and one little thing..." The Auror paused, real concern briefly flashing across his face. "We must pass the Azkaban guards on our way out to the courtroom. I thought it wise to warm you."

Nico's act kind of dissolved after that. He simply nodded, and willed all of his additions to the cell to disappear. Shacklebolt seemed pleased at that. Nico didn't think the Auror liked the idea of prisoners playing with darts instead of solemnly waiting for their trial. Shacklebolt led Nico out of the cell, though the Auror didn't remove Nico's shackles or lower his wand.

Nico worked up the courage to ask a question: "Please, what exactly is this place?" He waved his hand, indicating the circular tunnels, also made of black tile, and one of two gilded gates up ahead, where two tall, dark figures stood guard. _Dementors._

"The Ministry Detention Area," Shacklebolt said shortly. "Where suspected prisoners are kept before trial if necessary, and where convicted criminals wait to be transported to Azkaban."

"That's not, um, likely to happen to _me_, is it? Because, you know, I like to consider myself a _generally_ _decent__ person. _Or maybe, _not a threat to the entire world. _Perhaps _firmly on the side of the not-so-murderous?_"

"That is not for me to decide."

So, Nico thought, Kingsley Shacklebolt isn't one to answer many questions. Noted.

They passed through one of the gilded gates, Nico managing to not make a fool out of himself near the dementors, and proceeded to walk through the dungeons to "Courtroom Ten."

When the walked in, Nico's courage deserted him, if only for a moment. It was a large, square room made from dark stone—untiled, this time. The room was lit by torches that didn't give off any bothersome smoke, and held enough benches rising up from the floor to hold around two hundred people. Nico was reminded, uncomfortably, of an arena.

In the center of the room was a dark, foreboding chair. The chair had armrests (whee!) that were covered in chains. Nico didn't think the armrests were so nice after he saw that. On the opposite side of the room was another door—Nico knew that this one would lead to the rest of the Ministry of Magic's headquarters. To freedom. Sadly, most of the Wizengamot and one crazy trial stood in Nico's way. Steeling his resolve, the son of Hades walked to the chair and sat down to begin his trial.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

Nico's original chains had disappeared, which would've been nice, except for the fact that the chains on the chair, after indecisively rattling for a moment, bound Nico yet again. That wasn't very high on Nico's list of worries, however: the entire Wizengamot, plus the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, were staring down at him.

Kingsley Shacklebolt had taken his place among the Wizengamot to watch, leaving Nico the only one on the vast, empty floor under the benches. This would be a trial everyone wanted to miss—especially Nico.

Cornelius cleared his throat and began speaking, relying heavily, Nico noticed, on the roll of parchment in front of him. Another wizard was armed with a quill and even more parchment, ready to dutifully write down everything that occured during the trial.

Cornelius, however, wasn't used to such odd suspects as Nico: "...offenses include using Dark magic, specifically Necromancy and Umbrakinesis, by so-called Nico di Angelo, resident at..." Here he stumbled. "—resident of...New York, America. Interrogaters: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister of Magic and Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

Nico thought that was quite a mouthful. Already, skeletal butterflies were doing flips in Nico's stomach; his hands felt cold and clammy...even more so than usual. But the Minister of Magic was just getting started.

"Charges against the accused: that he carries a Dark artifact—a weapon, no less—performed Necromancy and Umbrakinesis multiple times, and attempted to harm another wizard with this Dark magic."

The Minister stared down his nose at Nico. "You are Nico di Angelo?"

"No, I'm Bob," Nico said, exasperated. "Of _course _I'm Nico! Now, please, get on with the trial."

There were many glaring wizards.

"You performed Dark magic, despite that fact that the Ministry highly disapproves of the use of _any _of the Dark arts and has prohibited Necromancy and Umbrakinesis?"

Nico hesitated. Technically, it hadn't been magic. Not _their _magic, anyways. "Yes and no," he said.

Fudge blinked. His face darkened a couple shades. "_What?_"

"Well, you see, maybe I did. But I didn't use a wand, or any or your spells, soooo..."

There was a long pause. Then, Amelia Susan Bones brought the trial back on course. "But you practiced the Dark arts that the Minister specified?"

Nico looked her in the eye. If he was going down, he wanted to go down fighting, not pleading to some idiots waving wands around and talking about their wizarding laws. "Yes," he said quietly.

Many of the members of the Wizengamot gasped quietly; Nico could tell it was unheard of for someone as young as thirteen to be practicing the Dark arts. Nico could tell this wasn't going in his favor. He wondered if his shadow magic would work now. The chains rattled again, curling tighter around Nico's arms. So, no then.

"Nico di Angelo, I declare you—"

"WAIT!"

Nico's head shot up as two people ran into the room, panting. Hazel Levesque and Will Solace.

Nico buried his head in his hands. Why were they so _stupid?_

Will leaned against the wall, clutching his side. "It—wasn't—Nico's—fault," he said between gasps.

Nico could feel everyone in the room look at them, and then at him. Lifting his head, Nico glared at the two other demigods and said: "You _had _to come here. I told you I'd be _fine_."

"Sentenced to a wizard prison is not _fine_," Will said.

Meanwhile, the wizards had recovered from their initial shock. "Who are _you? _" Fudge asked.

Hazel repeated what Will had said. "You're making a mistake." She snapped her fingers, and Nico could feel the Mist curling around the room. Members of the Wizengamot glanced at each other, suddenly unsure. "Nico isn't breaking your laws."

A long pause. And then. "We don't know who you are, or what you want." It was Amelia Bones again. "Do not interfere. Once the trial is over, we will deal with you."

Will looked like he wanted to protest, but Hazel put a hand on his shoulder, shaking her head. _It won't help,_ the gesture seemed to say.

And then yet another person came into the room: the person Nico least expected to help. _Albus Dumbledore_ strode onto the floor of the courtroom.

"Actually, these two are correct." Dumbledore smiled a thin smile. "Nico is not breaking _your _laws. In fact, if I remember correctly, Cornelius, he was under my protection at Hogwarts."

If Fudge could've looked angrier, he did. "He has _left Hogwarts,_" the Minister said, "and _he will not be returning._"

"A friendly reminder, Cornelius: the Minister of Magic does not have the power to expell students from my school."

Fudge opened his mouth, but Dumbledore was on a roll.

"We agreed that Mr. di Angelo have a year to prove that he is not a threat to the wizarding world, or to Harry Potter. I believe that year is not yet over."

Fudge narrowed his eyes. "I never agreed to that."

The members of the Wizengamot were looking back and forth from Dumbledore to Fudge like it was a very intense ball game. Nico was forgotten, for now—which he was fine with.

"It is only fair," Dumble responded calmly. "Be reasonable, Cornelius."

The entire room seemed to hold it's breath, Nico included. The son of Hades knew that if Cornelius continued the trial, he would look unstable—like a paranoid fool. But if he backed out, he would still look like a fool. It was a close bargain, one Nico didn't want to be a part of. Then he noticed Hazel—from the faraway look in her eyes, she was still manipulating the mist. Which meant that—

"Fine. We will postpone the trial until the end of term. But once that time is over—" The Minister glared at Nico. "—everything will be as it _should _be. You _will_ be returning to this courtroom, di Angelo. _No_ excuses."

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

Freedom came at a cost.

To enlist Dumbledore's help, Hazel and Will had told him Nico's story. The _whole _story.

Everything about the demigods, and the wars, and Tartarus. Even about Camp Half-Blood and Nico's parentage.

At first, Dumbledore hadn't believed them. That's why he'd been late. But after a few minutes of piecing together the facts, and the events that had occured at Hogwarts, Dumbledore decided that their story, or at least, parts of it, were legitimate. After hearing Nico's firsthand account, it was decided: Dumbledore would do his best to help Nico get back to where he belonged—whatever it took.

Nico, he said, should simply focus on his schoolwork and relax for a while. But Nico didn't plan on that: there was still the matter of Sirius and Peter...which might, after all, be exactly what Nico needed...

* * *

**Harry's PoV**

Harry nearly had a heart attack when Nico walked into the dormitory, late in the evening.

Before Harry could ask a single question, Nico interrupted him: "Okay, I narrowly escaped Azkaban, fought two Aurors, was the subject of one Wizengamot trial, and sold half of my soul in the form of secrets to your Headmaster. In short: I am tired. Let me sleep."

Before Nico could dive into the relative safety of his bunk, Harry grabbed his arm and asked: "Hang on: _what?_"

Nico jumped a little, tugging his arm free. "It's a long story. Something about performing the Dark arts, blah blah blah, et cetera. Now, if you don't mind..."

"What do you mean about telling Dumbledore secrets and stuff?"

"Uhhh..." Nico fidgeted with the hair on the back of his head, looking extremely uncomfortable with the way the conversation was going. "Nootttthhiinnngggg?"

Harry stared at him. "Merlin's beard, where have you been?" Nico was at least two inches taller, and his complexion had darkened from walking-corpse state to a very pale olive skin-tone. His hair had grown out even longer and messier, if that was possible, and that sort of melancholy, old aura Nico had had was all but gone.

Nico looked confused. "What, did someone dye my hair yellow without me noticing? I don't _think _Will would do that, but—"

"No, I mean, you're like, _taller,_ and you don't look..." Harry trailed off.

"What?" Nico demanded.

"Uh...you don't look like a walking corpse as much..."

Nico stared at him for a long, uncomfortable moment. Then he laughed—Nico di Angelo, performer of the Dark arts, laughed. "I've forgotten how rude you are without noticing. Keep at it, Potter: it is very amusing."

Harry realized Nico had changed in more ways than one: he seemed happier, but also like he was waiting for something bad to happen—like he was pulling together everything he had, enjoying the last moments of life as much as possible. There was an underlying tension—a grim expectation of the worst to come.

Something had happened to Nico while he was gone. Something bad was coming.

And Harry wasn't sure he liked it. He wasn't sure he liked it at all.

"What is it?" Nico asked. "You're looking at me as though I just sprouted wings or something."

"Nothing. It's...it's nothing."

* * *

**Harry's PoV**

Harry approached Nico after classes the next day, in the evening. "Di Angelo. Lupin's having our first dementor-fighting lesson this evening. You coming?"

Nico shoved the last of his dinner in his mouth. "Yeah. And, Harry? About earlier, before break..."

Harry paused, a mixture of fear, hope , anticipation, and anger rolling through him. "Yes?"

Nico met his eyes, his dark gaze steady. "I want you to know I _am _telling the truth. Sirius Black is innocent—and so am I."

Harry left quickly so he wouldn't lose control and punch di Angelo in the eye.

* * *

**Nico's PoV**

Turns out, Professor Lupin's brilliant plan to get a dementor in the school was something like: S!

So, naturally, Nico already hated the class. It got awkward very quickly from there.

"Er, Nico...yes. You're boggart is different from Harry's, of course—why don't you..."

Lupin trailed off. It wasn't like there was a dementor lying around somewhere for Nico to use.

"We'll start with practicing the charm first. The boggart will come later."

Nice save there, Nico thought.

The charm, apparently, was called the "Patronus Charm." The incantation? _Expecto patronum. _

But it wasn't just an incantation: you needed to think of the happiest moments of your life, something pure enough to distract a dementor from sucking your soul out of you.

Oh, right: there was something called the _Dementor's Kiss._ According to Lupin, you could live without your soul: an empty container, a shadow of who you once were.

"Hang on," Nico asked, torn between horror and fury. "You let those _things _eat people's souls? That's a thing around here? Don't you _realize _that you're letting prisoners escape punishment?"

Both Harry and Lupin looked superbly confused. "...What _punishment_ are you referring to, Nico?" Lupin asked cautiously.

If Nico had been thinking straight, he would have shut his mouth. But of course, he _wasn't _thinking straight. The Underworld was about justice. His _father _personally ensured that souls were judged fairly (or at least, assigned some judges to do it for him) and Hades did _not _approve of souls escaping either punishment or reward. So to hear about this _Dementor's Kiss _certainly put a link in Nico's toga. (Metaphorically speaking...of _course._)

"What punishment?" Nico asked. "Hmm...eternal damnation, perhaps? There's no need for this _Dementor's Kiss. _How can you wizards talk about justice and law when you have creatures as evil as that enforcing those laws? How can you subject people to getting their souls destroyed, without any real proof?"

Lupin and Harry stared at him, dumbstruck.

"If that's what you do here, I'm not taking any part of it."

And so Nico stormed angrily out of the room to do his History of Magic report, wondering how Sirius (and himself) would fare if Nico failed.

And more than that: how could Nico watch as Pettigrew, evil as he was, received that punishment? There had to be a way out that _didn't _involve dementors, or the wizards' poisoned Ministry of Magic. But what?

* * *

**Author's Notes: So in Percy Jackson, it was shadow travel. But in Heroes of Olympus, it was shadow-travel. Which do you use? **


	14. A sorry excuse of an update

**A Sorry Excuse of an Update**

Hello. I am sorry to say this, but **TLDR: I will be abandoning my fanfiction writing, possibly permanently. **

This announcement will be posted on both of my current works, Harry Potter/Percy Jackson crossovers:

-Rising From Shadowed Ashes

-Eclipsed Ancestry

* * *

So, I recently read _The Tower of Nero. _And. . .I realized that, compared with the original, my fanfiction is. . .questionable at best. And. . .well. Now that I've started fleshing out my own cast and crew of characters, I'm inclined to agree a bit with Rick Riordan here:

"Q: Do you ever read fanfiction?

A: No, never. I am aware of fanfic, but I go out of my way to avoid it. For one thing, it's legally tricky ground. I can't actively  
endorse anyone else using my copyrighted material. I also don't want anyone claiming later on, "Hey, you got that idea from my fanfiction!" Aside from that, I have to admit I find fan fiction a little unsettling. It's like somebody getting into my closet and trying on my clothes. It's just weird seeing someone else try to write about my characters. Then again, I can't listen to the audio versions of my books. It drives me crazy hearing another voice beside my own narrating my stories. And, as I've explained many times, I also couldn't watch the Percy Jackson movie for much the same reason."

Yeahhhhhh.

Now, I'm not saying I hate fanfiction—or that Riordan does. He's okay with it, as is J.K Rowling. If fanfiction inspires you to write, and/or hone your writing skills—go ahead! I'm not stopping you, and there are some really good fics out there—and the good ones are hella fun to read.

But.

The two I've written. . .well, let's just say that if Percy, Annabeth, Leo, Nico, Will, Harry, Hermione, Ron, ect. ect. say them, and if the authors saw them. . .they'd all be inclined to agree with my current opinion that they aren't the greatest work of art.

In fact, I'm too scared to even go back and access how bad they are/whether I should purge them from existence. ESPECIALLY Eclipsed. I despise that one. Even the concept is nuts. Ashes isn't SO bad—there are a gazillion Nico-finds-Hogwarts fics.

As you can probably assume by now. . .I won't be updating for a long, LONG time, as I have other things to do with my life: I've started piano, archery, 3D modeling, and coding; and I am continuing to learn and practice math, art, and writing. I. . .think fanfic was just a bit of a phase for me, at least, writing it was.

The real question is: **do I take my old work down?**

I'll leave it up to you, the readers—not really FANS, but readers. Read them again. Think of the originals, the characters you know and possibly love. Is this worthy of your attention? Is this what-if really worth continuing, worth your time, or should you maybe go read the originals, new books, or actually good fanfiction?

Now, I **probably **will be abandoning them. But **PERHAPS NOT. **I might return.

Now, some alternatives: I know that while Eclipsed is kinda garbage, being my first fic, even I am inclined to say: **Ashes' concept isn't complete garbage. If you like that, check out _Best Friends _by tallshadow72!** It's very similar, and I was actually inspired by it and borrowed some ideas (with the author's permission, of course). tallshadow72 can actually write, and she also has a pretty regular update schedule on that story, once a week. It's long, she actually puts work into it, Nico acts like Nico, Will acts like Will, the HP trio acts like the HP trio, and so on.

As for Eclipsed. . .I'm pretty much the only one who's made more than 3 chapters for that concept. Hmm. . .I wonder why?

Now, one last bit of shameless advertising. I may not be fanfiction writing anymore, but I still have a **YouTube channel. GreenCrystal19, art stuff.** I took down my fanarts, because they are worthless schist compared with viria's fanart, but hey. My own characters will be getting some attention there. So weee.


End file.
